Introduction to Key Concepts
State
Governance
Civil Society
 Democracy
State and civil society
• What is the State?
• State is defined using many criteria such as its
legal form, coercive capacities, institutional
composition and boundaries, internal
operations, declared aims, functions for the
broader society, or sovereign place in the
international system etc.
• There is no universal acceptable definition of
what it is.
State and civil society
• What is the State?
• Taken from the Latin stare (to stand) a state is
a political community that occupies a definite
territory; having an organized government
with the authority to make and enforce laws
without the consent of a higher authority.
State and civil society
• What is the State?
• Weber defined modern state as “the human
community that successfully claims legitimate
monopoly over the means Of coercion in a
given territorial area”
• Weber emphasizes three aspects of the
modern state: its territoriality; its monopoly of
the means of physical violence; and its
legitimacy.
State and civil society
• What is the State?
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics
defined state as:
• A distinct set of political institutions whose
specific concern is with the organization of
domination, in the name of the common
interest, within a delimited territory.
State and civil society
• What is the State?
• Professor Garner defined state as:
• A community of person more or less
numerous, permanently occupying a definite
portion of territory, independent or nearly so,
of external and possessing an organised
government to which the great body of
inhabitants render habitual obedience.
Essential elements of the state
• Characteristics of the state:
• Population: People – Which nation has the largest
population? How many citizens are there in the URT?
• Geography: A state must have a territory with known
and recognized boundaries. Which country has the
largest territory?
• Sovereignty: A state must have absolute and complete
authority to make the rules within its own territory
• Government
• International recognition: International recognition is
desirable for better and absolute state hood
Origins of the State
How did states and governments come into
being? Four theories:
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Evolution Theory (family to tribal council)
Force Theory (conquest of family /tribe)
Divine Right (Rulers are chosen by God)
Social Contract (agreement between the
ruler and the ruled a contract)
What is the Differences between State
and Government?
1. State is a Political organization to control the
various aspects of social life while Government
is the agent through which the will of the state is
expressed
2. State is abstract. It is not visible while
Government is concrete. It is visible.
3. State is permanent while Government is
temporary
4. State is sovereign while government is not
sovereign. It drives its power from the state
What is the Differences between State
and Government?
5. State is wider while government is one
among the basic element of the state
6. In a State all citizens are members while the
membership of the Government is limited to
the ruler only.
7. There can be no rights against the state while
there can be rights against the government.
What is the differences between
Nation and State?
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NATIONAL SYMBOLS
Flag
National Anthem
Monument
Seal
The Constitution
Animal
Language
Currency
Coats of Arms (shield)
What is the differences between
Nation and State?
• There is a difference between the terms
nation, state, and country, even though the
words are often used interchangeably.
Country and State are synonymous terms that
both apply to self-governing political entities.
A nation, however, is a group of people who
share the same culture but do not have
sovereignty.
What is the differences between
Nation and State?
• The State has four elements—population,
territory, government, and sovereignty. In the
absence of even one element, a State cannot be
really a State. A state is always characterised by
all these four elements.
• On the contrary, a nation is a group of people
who have a strong sense of unity and common
consciousness. common race, common religion,
common language, common history, common
culture and common political aspirations are the
elements which help the formation of a nation
What is the differences between
Nation and State?
• The State is a political organisation which
fulfills the security and welfare needs of its
people. It is concerned with external human
actions. It is a legal entity.
• On the other hand, a Nation is a united unit of
population which is full of emotional, spiritual
and psychological bonds. A nation has little to
do with the physical needs of the people.
What is the differences between
Nation and State?
• The State is limited to a fixed territory. Its
boundaries can increase or decrease but the
process of change is always very complex.
• Nation can be wider than the State: a nation
may or may not remain within the bounds of a
fixed territory
• A State can be created while a Nation is
always the result of evolution
What is the differences between
Nation and State?
• State has police power. Those who dare to
disobey it are punished by the state. A nation
does not have police power or force or
coercive power. It is backed by moral,
emotional and spiritual power. A nation
survives on the power of sense of unity of the
people. A nation appeals, the State orders; a
nation persuades, a States coerces; and a
nation boycotts, the State punishes.
What is the differences between
Nation and State?
• Not all nations have States. While the Jewish
nation is not a State, Israel is a State.
• Modern States tend to try to develop a sense
of nation within their territorial boundaries.
• It is believed that a state consisting of a
nation of people is more cohesive and easier
to govern as there is a common set of beliefs,
values, culture, and history.
Governance
• The concept of Good Governance can be
traced back to the Ancient Greek period if one
catch the essence of Aristotle’s fundamental
statement that “the state came in to existence
for the sake of mere life, but continued for the
sake of good life”.
• looking into the term “good life” we can
traced out the components of Good
Governance which is discussed in modern
time.
Governance
• Recently the scope and the meaning of the
term have been much expanded.
• Because of this, there is no consensus on the
definition and the scope of the term of
governance. There is no unity among the
scholars and the funding agencies over the
term govern.
Governance
• It is only recently that the role of government
and the creation of good institutions by
government are deemed important again.
• Scholars began to realize that government
should do what it is supposed to do, that is at
least to create security, protect property
rights, reduce societal problems and take back
its leading role in controlling and steering
societal developments
Governance
• Before that some scholars viewed governance
something like the final blow for government
that had to accept that society cannot be
hierarchically steered or controlled. The
steering of developments had to be left to
societal actors and had to be accomplished
through networks in which hierarchy hardly
played a role.
Governance
• The Oxford dictionary defines governance as
• the act or method of governing, of exercising
control or authority over the actions of
subjects, a system of regulation.
• At the same time the governments is one of
the actors in governance. The military, civil
society organizations, media, political parties,
and NGOs are the other actors in the process
of Governance
Governance
• The United Nations Development
Programme’s (UNDP) definition of good
governance is set out in a 1997 UNDP policy
document entitled “Governance for
Sustainable Human Development”.
• Governance can be seen as the exercise of
economic, political and administrative
authority to manage a country’s affairs at all
levels.
Governance
• The AfDB in the process of preparing an
institutional policy on good governance. The
draft policy paper, dated April 1999, defines
governance as
• a process referring to the way in which power
is exercised in the management of affairs of a
nation.
Good governance
• World Bank defines: "Good governance is
epitomized by predictable and enlightened
policy making; a bureaucracy imbued with a
professional ethos; an executive arm of
government accountable for its actions; a
strong civil society participating in public
affairs; and all behaving under the rule of
law“
Good governance
• Good governance is a process, where rules
and well-functioning institutions are applied
to manage nation’s affairs in a manner that
safeguards democracy, human rights, good
order and human security, and economy and
efficiency are followed in management of
country’s resources.
TYPES OF GOVERNANCE
• 1. Political or public governance, whose
authority is the State, government or public
sector, relates to the process by which a
society organizes its affairs and manages itself.
• 2. Economic governance, whose authority is
the private sector, relates to the policies, the
processes or organizational mechanisms that
are necessary to produce and distribute
services and goods.
TYPES OF GOVERNANCE
• 3. Social governance, whose authority is the
civil society, including citizens and non-forprofit organizations, relates to a system of
values and beliefs that are necessary for social
behaviors to happen and for public decisions
to be taken.
Good governance
• Good governance is measured using different
elements or indicators:
• World Bank WGI has 6 indicators
• United Nation (UN) 8 charecteristics
• UNDP use 5 indicators
• Ibrahim Index of African Governance has 4
• African Development Bank (AfDB) 5 indicators
8 charecteristics
of Good Governance
United Nation (UN) 8 charecteristics
of Good Governance
• Participation by both men and women is a key
cornerstone of good governance. Participation could
be either direct or through legitimate intermediate
institutions or representatives.
• Transparency means that decisions taken and their
enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules
and regulations. It also means that information is freely
available and directly accessible to those who will be
affected by such decisions and their enforcement. It
also means that enough information is provided and
that it is provided
United Nation (UN) 8 charecteristics
of Good Governance
• Rule of law ;Good governance requires fair
legal frameworks that are enforced
impartially. It also requires full protection of
human rights, particularly those of minorities.
Impartial enforcement of laws requires an
independent judiciary and an impartial and
incorruptible police force.
United Nation (UN) 8 charecteristics
of Good Governance
• Responsiveness : Good governance requires that
institutions and processes try to serve all
stakeholders within a reasonable timeframe.
• Consensus oriented: There are several actors and
as many view points in a given society. Good
governance requires mediation of the different
interests in society to reach a broad consensus in
society on what is in the best interest of the
whole community and how this can be achieved.
It also requires a broad and long-term
United Nation (UN) 8 charecteristics
of Good Governance
• Equity and inclusiveness: A society’s well
being depends on ensuring that all its
members feel that they have a stake in it and
do not feel excluded from the mainstream of
society. This requires all groups, but
particularly the most vulnerable, have
opportunities to improve or maintain their
well being.
United Nation (UN) 8 charecteristics
of Good Governance
• Effectiveness and efficiency: Good governance
means that processes and institutions produce
results that meet the needs of society while
making the best use of resources at their
disposal. The concept of efficiency in the context
of good governance
• Accountability In general an organization or an
institution is accountable to those who will be
affected by its decisions or actions. Accountability
cannot be enforced without transparency and the
rule of law.
World Bank WGI has 6 indicators
1) voice and accountability: political process, civil
liberties and political rights, independence of
media
2) political instability and violence: perceptions
that the government will be destabilized or
overthrown by violent means
3) government effectiveness: quality of public
service provision, of bureaucracy, competence
of civil servants.
World Bank WGI has 6 indicators
1) 4) regulatory burden: incidence of
market-unfriendly policies
5) rule of law: incidence of violent or
non-violent crime, effectiveness and
predictability of the judiciary,
enforceability of contracts
6) graft: corruption (exercise of public
power for private gains
Ibrahim Index of African Governance
• The IIAG data are classifed within four
categories:
1. „Safety & Rule of Law
2. „Participation & Human Rights
3. „Sustainable Economic Opportunity
4. „Human Development
„Ibrahim Index of African Governance
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1 Safety & Rule of Law
Rule Of Law 5 indicators
Accountability 7 indicators
Personal Safety 6 indicators
National Security 5 indicators
„Ibrahim Index of African Governance
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2 Participation & Human Rights
Participation 5 indicators
Rights 7 indicators
Gender 7 indicators
„Ibrahim Index of African Governance
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3 .Sustainable Economic Opportunity
Public Management
Business Environment
Infrastructure
Rural Sector
„Ibrahim Index of African Governance
4 Human Development
• Welfare: Social Protection & Labour, Social
Exclusion, Welfare Services (Health &
Education) Equity of Publ Resource Use,
Access to Water, Access to Sanitation etc.
• Education: Education Provision & Quality,
Educational System Quality etc.
• Health
civil society
• Civil society is defined as; Any organization or
movement that works in the area between the
household, the private sector and the state to
negotiate matters of public concern.
• Civil society is a space, an arena, a sphere in
which citizens associate with each other
independently of the state, creating a network of
links and organizations to promote their
collective identities and serve and represent their
group interests
THE STRUCTURE OF CSOs
• Loose, informal groups involve more or less
casual meetings of like minded people to discuss
issues and perhaps plan for concerted actions.
• Semi structured groups may have a charter and a
clearly stated vision and mission and perhaps
some voluntary codes of practice and rules and
regulations regarding membership
• Civil Society organisations can be registered
under five different government acts. When they
are legally constituted they are likely to have a
Constitution, a Board, a bank account and regular
meetings of the responsible people.
Civil Society
• Civil Society covers a wide range of organised
groupings. They occupy the public space between
the state and individual people. They are
normally interest groups with different degrees of
accountability to their membership. They include:
• NGOs – national and international
• Religious organisations
• Professional associations
• Trade Unions
• Co-operatives
Civil Society
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Voluntary and self-help groups
Organisations of socially excluded groups
Political parties
The Media
Community-based organisations (CBOs)
Legal and Human rights groups
Research Organisations
Civil Society
• Civil Society organistions have a wide range of
agendas. Only some are deliberately pro-poor
and of those only some take a rights-based
approach to empowerment and advocacy. The
next diagram maps the different types of
CSOs.
3 questions determine State-society
relations
• How much individual freedom and autonomy
does the state allow?
• How free are citizens to form associations?
• Does civil society challenge the state?
• The rise of civil society is an evolutionary, gradual
process
• At some point, this evolution leads to a clash with
the state, cooperation or lack of cooperation
State-society relations
• In established democracies:
• Representation of interests means pressure on
the state
• Every state policy evokes different reactions
from civil society: some support, some oppose
• So, a degree of friction and tension between
civil society and the state is a normal
condition in a democracy
What is democracy?
• Democracy is government of the people, by the
people and for the people ( Abraham Lincoln
• Democracy is any form of government in which
the rules of society are decided by the people
who will be bound by them (Catherine Kellogg)
• Democracy is a state in which all fully qualified
citizens vote at a regular intervals to chose,
among alternative candidates the people who
will be in charge of setting the state policies.
(Shively,W.P)
The Concept of Democracy
• Theories of a democratic government include
differencing democracy from other form of
government:
– Autocracy: power to govern is concentrated in the
hands of one individual.
– Oligarchy: power is concentrated in the hands of a
few people.
– Democracy: in theory, the people rule, either
directly or indirectly.
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The Concept of Democracy
• The Meaning and Symbolism of Democracy
– The first major school of thought about
what constitutes democracy believes that
democracy is a form of government that
emphasizes the procedures that enable the
people to govern or how decisions are
made.
– This is the procedural view of democracy
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The Concept of Democracy
• Procedural democratic theory establishes
principles that describe how government
should make decisions. The principles address
three questions:
• Who should participate in decision-making?
• How much should each participant’s vote
count?
• How many votes are needed to reach a
decision?
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The Concept of Democracy
• Universal participation: everyone in a democratic
society should participate in governmental
decision-making.
• The principle of political equality establishes an
equality in political decision-making providing for
one vote per person, with all votes counted
equally.
• The decision of a group must reflect the
preference of more than half of those
participating; a simple majority, known as
majority rule.
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The Concept of Democracy
• The Meaning and Symbolism of Democracy
– The second major school of thought about
what constitutes democracy see democracy
in the substance of government policies, in
freedom of religion and the provision for
human needs or what government does.
– This is the substantive view of democracy
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The Concept of Democracy
• The substantive view of democracy
• Democracy is embodied in the substance of
government policies rather than in the
policymaking procedure.
• The criterion for substantive democracy states
that government policies should guarantee
civil liberties and civil rights.
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The Concept of Democracy
• Procedural Versus Substantive Democracy
• The problem with the substantive view of
democracy is that it does not provide clear,
precise criteria that allow a determination of
whether or not government is democratic.
• The procedural viewpoint, while presenting
specific criteria for democratic government,
can produce undesirable social policies
because of those criteria, such as those that
prey on minorities.
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Institutional Models of Democracy
• Institutional Mechanisms Necessary for
Democratic Government
– Establishing procedures and organizations
to translate public opinion into policy
– Elections
– Political parties
– Legislatures
– Interest groups
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Institutional Models of Democracy
• The majoritarian model of democracy is the
classical theory of democracy in which
government by the people is interpreted as
government by the majority of the people.
• The pluralist model of democracy is an
interpretation of democracy in which
government by the people is taken to mean
government by people operating through
competing interest groups.
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Institutional Models of Democracy
(Cont’d)
• A comparison of the majoritarian and pluralist
models reveals:
• Pluralist model:
• Does not demand much knowledge from citizens in
general but requires specialized knowledge of groups of
citizens
• Limits majority action - allows minorities to rule
• Majoritarian model:
• Conclusive elections
• Centralized structure of government
• Cohesive political parties with well-defined programs
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Institutional Models of Democracy
• An undemocratic model, elite theory, is the view
that a small group of people actually makes most
of the important government decisions.
– Identified and stable minority makes most important
government decisions
– Control key financial, communications, industrial, and
government institutions
– Power derived from wealth
– Define issues and affect outcomes
– Powerful few manage issues and constrain outcomes
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Weaknesses
• Democratic rule can become tyranny of the
majority in situations where basic values are
not shared.
• Inability to act swiftly and decisively when
such actions are needed
• Does not reach out across national boundries.
Can we have international democracy?