Technological University of the PhilippinesManila

Graduate Program

Public Administration

Jemimah Joy Aguilar

Better society with less Government

Role of the Government

> The Government should be responsive to the needs of both the nation as a whole and the people as individuals.

> If necessary, it should take a gradual and pragmatic manner of action in responding to such needs. (Pragmatic means relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters : practical as opposed to idealistic)

> It embraces the totality of all institutions through which the state carries out its will.

Society

[suh-sahy-i-tee] , plural so·ci·e·ties, adjective

noun

● an organized group of persons associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes.

● a body of individuals living as members of a community.

● the body of human beings generally, associated or viewed as members of a community.

● a highly structured system of human organization for large-scale community living that normally furnishes protection, continuity, security, and a national identity for its members.

● such a system characterized by its dominant economic class or form: middle-class society; industrial society.

Civil society

It is the part of society that consists of organizations and institutions that help and look after people, their health, and their rights. It does not include the government or the family.

Civil society

It is an intermediary between the private sector and the state.

Civil society

As Larry Diamond defines it, is “the realm of organized social life that is open, voluntary, bound by a legal order or set of shared rules.”

It involves private citizens acting collectively to make demands to the state or to express in the public sphere their interests, preferences and ideas or to check the authority of the state and make it accountable.

Civil society

They include civic, issue-oriented, religious, and educational interest groups and associations. Some are known as nongovernmental organizations or NGOs; some are informal and loosely structured.

Role of the Civil Society

> It act as an important additional watch-dog over the relationships between public and private, state and society.

> It can play a vital role in making the elites and the mass public more committed to democracy by disseminating democratic principles and ideas.

> It can train future political leaders.

> It can stimulate political participation.

Reference: CHAPTER 10

THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN DEMOCRATICCONSOLIDATION IN ASIASUCHIT BUNBONGKARN

In the Philippines, democratization occurred without economic growth. The strength of civil society and the democratic

consciousness that had been firmly ingrained in the Philippine public helped bring down the dictatorial rule of Ferdinand Marcos.

The mobilization of hundreds of thousands of citizens to reclaim the stolen 1986 election through the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL)—set up to monitor the election—forced Marcos

out of power.

Without NAMFREL’s strength, Marcos' massive election fraud would not have been documented and publicized and the mobilization would

not have been possible.

In addition, the strength of civil society helped maintain democratic rule throughout the term of President Corazon Aquino, who survived

several coup attempts. Civil society flexed its muscles again in the successful campaign to oust Joseph Estrada for corruption.

Philippines civil society showed it was strong enough to force Estrada to step down, another example of the active monitoring of the performance of state and political leaders by Philippine

social groups.

However, the Philippine state is still weak and unable to assert its autonomy from powerful business and societal groups. Thecommitment to democracy by Philippine elites and the mass

public is unquestioned.

But Philippine democracy cannot truly become entrenched until a viable and vibrant civil society develops that can

counterbalance the state, as well as influential business and societal groups that want to dominate the state.

Reference: THE NEXUS BETWEEN CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY

by Joerg Forbrig (Florence,Warsaw)

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

John F. Kennedy

"Public administration calls for not only the active participation of the politicians but also of all sectors of society if it is to succeed in overcoming the many administrative and socio-economic problems of the

nation. The total involvement of all sectors of the society in the life of the nation is an imperative

requirement for national survival, as well as for the attainment of national greatness.

Jose P. Leveriza, Public Administration The Business of Government Second Edition