Civil society, market forces and government

5 September, 1998

The Editor
Quadrant
PO Box 1495
COLLINGWOOD Vic. 3066

Dear Sir

Your reviewer Bob Catley (July-August 1998) argues that civil society is being "assaulted by the forces of globalisation and economic efficiency".   He seems further to argue that governments should take measures to remedy this.

However, let me offer some alternative propositions about of the roles of civil society, market forces and government:

1. Free enterprise, within an appropriate framework, has proven far better at meeting most material needs than any alternative devised by humanity. The pro free enterprise reforms of recent years in Australia and around the world should therefore not lightly be jettisoned.

2. Free enterprise is not deleterious to civil society unless accompanied by an attitude that nothing is worth doing unless for money. However, free enterprise does not need such an attitude in order to work. Indeed, free enterprise will work best if citizens realise that economic activity is just one facet of life.

   The decline of civic institutions in areas which have suffered economic and population decline due to economic liberalisation is not evidence to the contrary. The level of civic activity in an area can hardly be expected not to vary with the level of population in that area. Whether and how governments ought to try to assist people in areas of economic decline is a separate issue to that of civil society.

3. Free enterprise needs at least certain aspects of a civil society in order to flourish. At minimum, there needs to be a general willingness of people to freely honour their contractual and other obligations, and there needs to be a rule of law to deal effectively with the minority who do not.

4. Furthermore, although free enterprise can flourish for a while under the "wise ruler" or "benevolent dictator", experience suggests that for free enterprise and prosperity to endure governments need to be subject to the rule of law, that the best way to achieve this is through democracy, and that for democracy to flourish in turn requires a thriving level of civic institutions and citizen participation.

   Free enterprise also needs the culture of self-responsibility provided by civil society in order to protect it from counterproductive encroachment by government.

5. The key threat to civil society in Australia at present is not free enterprise but the idea that government ought to meet all needs and fix all problems, and the consequent political dynamics that lead governments to attempt to live up to that expectation.

   To remedy this threat, there need to be generally accepted boundaries on the extent of governments’ responsibilities. Where those boundaries actually lie is, within limits, less important for civil society than the fact that they exist. If boundaries are recognised, civil society can flourish in those areas where it is accepted that government does not have a role. If there are not recognised boundaries, people will either say "leave it to government" or else devote their "civic" activity to lobbying government to undertake the role.

6. The contracting out to the private sector by government of services previously provided voluntarily is one instance where it has been argued that "economic efficiency" is in conflict with civil society. However, it is not the involvement of free enterprise that is the main issue here, but the continued explicit or implicit expansion of the role of government. The same impact on civil society would occur if it were decided to replace the "amateur" provision of the service with "professionals" employed by government.

7. To call on government to "do something" to fix the problem of declining civil society is to perpetuate the very attitude that has put civil society under threat in the first place.

8. Even if they wanted to, governments cannot "fix" a decline of civil society, save to the extent that they can remove impediments and avoid perpetuating the notion that governments can solve all problems. But political dynamics make even the latter very difficult for governments unless societal attitudes change.

   Thus whether or not civil society flourishes depends ultimately not on governments but on how each of us as individual citizens contributes to the maintenance of a civil society and encourages others to do likewise.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Clark, M.P.,
Member for Box Hill.