Rayan Jamshaid
24L-0699 BCS-2E
THE INTERPLAY OF NATIONALISM, STATE
GOVERNMENT, AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN STRENGTHENING AND WEAKIENING DEMOCRACY: A
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Nationalism, state government and civil society are important
pillars of a nation state. They combine to form a good democratic process and ensure
its continuity in a sovereign state. These three aspects of a state decide the
interest of masses in democracy, their political engagement and involvement,
and the responsibility level of institutions of the government. i.e.
Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.
Democracy:
Democracy is the rule of people, by
the people, for the people. In democracy, the active participation of masses is
very important. Either in the ruling role, or as the common masses, democracy
can not thrive without the masses being informed and knowledgeable of the main
aspects like nationalism, state government, and civil society. As democracy is
the rule of representatives by people, people need to know their rights and
responsibilities in order to ensure good democracy. Similarly, government needs
to know its duties and functioning, which are kept in check by the method of
state government and civil society.
Some major
points of democracy:
1. Rule of the masses: democracy is the
rule of people
2. Government is formed by the major
consent of people, but the minority have open speech and protected rights
3. Government works via institutions
Executive,
Legislature, Judiciary, which have sub-institutions to effectively fulfill
their responsibilities.
4. People participate in these political
institutions, form a civil society and resultantly make democratic institutions
and processes transparent and corruption free.
Nationalism:
The love and devotions
to one’s nation is called nationalism. A nation is a group of people who share
a single ideology and thought. Nationalism gives importance to the culture,
language, religion/ideology and shared values. Nationalism can also be based on
a state (the residents of a state share a regard for their state).
Nationalism
strengthens democracy in the following ways :
1. A sense of belonging: people have a
sense of belonging to their nation, which unites them, and a sense that their
representative will be good to represent them in the government. In addition,
people participate in democracy for their nation, the democracy remains stable
this way.
2. Nationalism helps in eliminating the
people who the common masses think are not good for nation, an important aspect
of democracy. Similarly, the opposition democratic parties have the objective
to improve the state of the nation.
3. When a person loves his nation, he
works for his nation, which involve good deeds and work for national
improvement. He shares his ideas through open speech and democratic
participation, either active or passive.
Nationalism
weakens democracy in the following ways :
1. The rights of minorities: if the
nation is formed on an ideology or a
religion/ culture, then the rights of minorities might be overlooked. People
will work only for the majority, like might is right. So nationalism leads to
social Darwinism for a specific group of people, excluding the minorities from
the nation.
2. The division of ideas: every person
thinks differently for his nation, so excessive nationalism leads to divison
and classification. The ruling party and opposition parties become biased and
inclined to one side after excessive nationalism. (the terms like right wing
and left wing politics are a result of this)
3. Reduces tolerance: in this global
world, nationalism can sometime lead to conservative mindedness and resistance
to diversity.
4. Nationalism can be misinterpreted by
governments to restrict free speech and restrict some activities in the name of
nationalism.
State
government:
State
government is the ruling body of a state, which makes laws, implement laws, and
maintains justice. State government includes other sub-institutions to fulfill
its responsibilities.
State
government strengthens democracy in the following ways:
1. Protection of rights, justice, law,
and constitution: when there is a state government (a state cannot be formed
without a government, and government works on social contract), people are
entitled to rights which are given by and are ensured by the government.
Government makes laws and keeps constitution safe by ensuring that no law is
made against it. Executive implements these laws. This all is done by
representatives of the democratic government, which are elected by the people. Minority
rights are also protected by the government, which helps in a more responsible
and good democratic movement.
2. Protection of duties: when there is a
good democratic state government, it helps in protection of duties. People are
inclined to pay their duties in order to maintain justice. Good judicial
practices ensure less corruption and smooth democratic movement.
3. Check on sub-institutions: sub
institutions are kept in check by state government, so democracy does not
suffer any hindrance in its working.
4. Political participation: Citizens
have more opportunities to engage in policymaking, vote in local elections, and
hold leaders accountable.
State
government weakens government in the following ways:
1. Failure to protect laws and constitution:
state government can sometimes fail to protect law, and the ruling figures can
change government according to their will, weakening democracy.
2. State government can sometimes impose
authoritarian rule, which is against democracy. Marshall laws are a form of
state government but against the soul of democracy.
3. Similarly State government can
dissent from other governments, like local governments, which reduces the
political participation in democracy.
4. Disparities
between state governments can lead to economic and social inequalities,
creating democratic imbalances
Civil
Society:
A civil society is a
society which includes civil participants, like civil groups and communities of
people, civil rights activist movements, religious/ideological institutions etc.
It is an aspect of society where the common masses have civil knowledge, and
they work voluntarily to improve society, nation and state. These improvements
can be citizen’s rights, educational/ social issues resolve, social justice,
political participation.
Civil
Society strengthens democracy in the following ways:
1. Civil Engagement: people participate
in political and social activities, to work for the collective civil and social
betterment of nation. People have the knowledge of democracy, open speech, and
also participate in democratic process in order to make it better.
2. Check on democratic rule: when people
know civics, they will keep a check on the democratic institutions, and
sub-institutions. This check can be kept by common masses when they thrive for
their rights, from the active participants in the democratic institutions and
sub-institutions, or from NGOs or international critiques. This also makes
democratic government accountable for its actions and paying its
responsibilities.
The institutions of the democratic government are Legislature, Judiciary,
Executive while the sub-institutions are departments like local government,
police, education, healthcare, infrastructure, economic development.
3. Encourage free speech and demand for
rights: in a civil society, people know their rights and duties, they demand
their rights by free speech, peaceful protests along with protecting their
rights by forming unions and protecting the rights of minorities with
institutions like NGOs and their own unions and communities.
4. Self-support and service: people in a
civil society strive combined to provide services and help to improve the
quality of life. For example, NGOs work for minorities and poor people and
strengthening the women, people and disaster relief organizations work during
natural disasters to help the sufferers. A generation of civil good people will
nurture a new good civil generation. And the same shadow falls on the
democratic rule.
Civil
society weakens democracy in the following ways:
1. Social Darwinism and polarization: if
a civil society has an ideology and sticks hard to it, then the civil acts can
be biased. That society can create an Darwinism mentality. For example, the
English when they overtook America and took the red-Indians their slaves.
Britishers helped themselves and were the elite civil society of the time, but
they excluded others from their society and the white always had hate for the
black. Similarly, in a civil society, the minorities can be excluded from the
help and free democratic rule, expression of ideas etc. The democratic parties
can get polarized in the sense that they only care for their civil society.
2. Political parties can manipulate
civil institutions like NGOs and other education departments to promote
themselves or to spread anti-government agendas. E.g. Some NGO for the empowering
the villagers can promote some political figure.
3. Forming and running a good civil
society is a difficult task and also requires a lot of time and resources. This
makes people a bit demotivated and they stop working for the improvement of
rights and other things. Resultantly, it weakens the democracy.
Conclusion:
State
government strengthens democracy by local representation. Poorly managed
state governments can lead to corruption and inequality. When nationalism is
civic and is not based on radical ideology, it improves democratic movement,
else it becomes government of a specific group. Civil society obviously plays a
part in democracy, but people need to give their full in order to maintain a
good civil society. In short, if all three aspects, a moderate way of getting
rights and paying duties, both by active democratic participants (the political
parties and ruling figures) and common masses who participate in democracy,
will result in good democracy.
References:
NATIONALISM AND
CIVIL SOCIETY: DEMOCRACY, DIVERSITY AND SELF-DETERMINATION
(https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/026858093008004001?
How Nationalism Saves Democracy(https://democratic-erosion.org/2024/10/09/how-nationalism-saves-democracy/?)
Civil Society Engagement Strategy (https://commonwealthfoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Civil%20Society%20Engagement%20Strategy%20(Updated%20March%202015)_0.pdf)
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