Strengthening the Role of Global Civil Society for Global Policy

Mega Mulianisa

Universitas Negeri Jakarta

Keywords: Role, Civil Society, Global, Policy.

Abstract: The writing of this paper is inspired by the emergence of global civil society that actually has an important

role in the global policy. According to Mavin Sooros, a global policy is formed by larger international

public policy groups, there is a tendency to view the global policy as a process which occurs in international

conferences and conducts discussions in organizations beyond the reach of the state. Global Civil Society's

journey until now has enough potential and has a real contribution in International forums. However, in its

practice, this movement also has some criticism. This study also takes the sample case of Global Call to

Action Against Poverty (GCAP). The research pattern used in this study is descriptive, that is exposure to

data or description. Secondary data will be conducted by searching data from various sources such as books,

internet, thesis, journals that will serve as a reference for the research. The result is the Global Civil Society,

an amount of restriction ranging from the domination of the civil society center, funding until problem-

solving. All this must be able to be answered by the actors because the Global Civil Society movement is

not just a technical movement but also a political movement.

1 INTRODUCTION

Civil society as a concept actually began to develop

around the 17th century AD in Western countries.

The emergence of the term "civil society" began

because of the dominance in the circle of power by

the regime in power in Western countries at that

time. This event caused the society to build the

forces to make a change and fight against the system

that is considered unfair. This civil society

movement at the same time also speeds up the

introduction of the conception of civil society until

finally this concept is disputed by the thinkers.

Starting from Aristotle who said that the Civil

Society is understood as a state system

(koinoniahpolitike), then Marcus Tullius Cicero

stated that a community that dominates other

communities (Societies Civilies) which later

developed by Thomas Hobbes and Jhon Locke.

Adam Ferguson in 1767 also developed the

discourse of civil society by looking at the Scottish

social, cultural and political situation. Until

subsequently developed by Hegel, Karl Marx and

Gramsci who understand civil society as an element

of class ideology. This concept continues to

experience significant development. Civil society is

neither the government nor non-governmental nor

non-market. The actions that they did are more

voluntary and still affect the formulation of

government policies and control their application.

Civil society is also very closely related to

globalization because it has a very significant role in

the emergence of global civil society. Global civil

society according to Scholte is a voluntary activity

with the aim of establishing a deeper,

distinguishable policy, norm, or social structure of

the commercial and political sectors. In addition,

Scholte also argues that global civil society is a

community that has a social orientation and can be

regarded as a non-profit community. Thus, it can be

seen that global civil society tends to lead to a

community closer to social movements. A

movement said to be a civil society movement is

when it is outside the scope of the state or market,

and it is done on a voluntary basis from the

perpetrators. They have the goal of forming a policy,

norm, or social structure.Globalization is viewed as

a compressed state of space and time of the world

community that is visible from the very intense

interrelationship and interdependence in social,

political, economic and cultural aspects on a world

scale. Globalization is an era in which modern

human civilization and advanced, especially in the

rapid dissemination of information, broad and

limited so that the information technology aspects

are experiencing rapid development and bring

404

Mulianisa, M.

Strengthening the Role of Global Civil Society for Global Policy.

DOI: 10.5220/0010277900002309

In Proceedings of Airlangga Conference on International Relations (ACIR 2018) - Politics, Economy, and Security in Changing Indo-Paciﬁc Region, pages 404-409

ISBN: 978-989-758-493-0

people to a more global civilization. Although there

is still debate about the impact of globalization

whether to make progress in society or even decline.

Building civil society in the era of globalization

would want to lead to the progress of adaptive social

change, in the sense of humanist and sustainable

change, but reality illustrates, so far the implications

of the application still find obstacles in society.

This process then makes public good become

one of the challenges in global civil society. Based

on one of the opinions of Dragira Vujadinovic in

which Vujadinovic argues that global civil society is

associated with global actions, voluntary and

spontaneous to forms association at the transnational

and global levels, the existence of the form of social,

political and economic mobilization, and aims to

improve the quality of humanity globally, then it can

be concluded that global civil society is a society

that is always related to all forms of globalization,

whether it is action that carried out, the association

that formed, and the issues that happen, and the

purpose of the global civil society itself. Anthony

Giddens in a paper "Global Civil Society 2001"

states that the concept of global civil society is

closely related with globalization, if democracy

becomes more global then civil society space that

beyond the borders of the state will be possible to be

formed. Giddens calls it 'globalization from below',

which becomes the balancer for the trade

liberalization process driven by the biggest

companies in the world on one side and state

institutions on the other side. The report says that the

role of the global civil society actually is not single

because they have several positions in viewing the

globalization. Some of these positions are first as

supporters, they are individual person and groups

who are enthusiastic about globalization and are

ready to support all of the global policies. The

second group is the rejecter that is of those who

want to stop globalization and believe in the power

of the nation-state. The second group is subdivided

into some subdivision that are groups that continue

to support global capitalism but reject the opening of

state borders, leftist groups that strongly reject

global capitalism, religious radical groups,

nationalist to anti-colonialism. A third group is a

reformist group in which they accept the reality that

there are a global dependency and potential for

human advantage, but they see that humanizing

human is one of the needs that must also be in this

process of globalization. The last is the fourth group

that is a group that does not show much partiality in

the sense that they are neither rejecting nor

accepting it, they have their own agenda without

government or economic institutions. They are the

groups that create community empowerment. They

try to advocate and make society more responsive to

the state. Civil society can be global as long as

voluntary associations are motivated by solidarity

sentiment between countries. For example, civil

groups can develop a sense of collective identity and

destiny that exceed territoriality: for example in the

age line, class, gender, profession, race, religious

belief or sexual orientation. The world will always

need independent organizations and individuals to

act as watchdogs, ethical guardians and advocates of

the marginalized or under-represented. Civil society

in all its forms has an important role in holding all

stakeholders, including itself, to the highest levels of

accountability.

2 METHOD

This study used a qualitative type of research.

According to Moleong, a qualitative methodology is

a research method based on the written word and

orally from the action that can be seen. The

researcher used qualitative methods with the

descriptive approach because theresearcher wants to

analyze the role of global civil society in global

policy. The research pattern used in this research is

descriptive, that is exposure to data or description.

Secondary data will be conducted by searching data

from various sources such as books, internet, thesis,

journals that will serve as a reference for the

research. Whereas the technique of data analysis, is

a process to obtain and arrange systematic data

obtained from the interviews, documentation and

results obtained from the field which then describe

in certain categories by determining which data are

significant and include conclusion in order to be

understood by the person who read it.

2.1 Positions and Transnationalization

of Global Civil Society

There are already some global organizations in the

world level in the framework of global policies such

as the United Nations and its subordinate

organizations or the World Trade Organization

(WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and

the World Bank. Unfortunately, some organizations

that are expected to become a forum of cooperation

among many countries of the world is more often

dominated by the developed countries.Some of the

positions of Global Civil Society in understanding

that has been mentioned before surely affect the

Strengthening the Role of Global Civil Society for Global Policy

405

Global Civil Society in global policy. But before

that, we need to emphasize the difference between

international policy and global policy because they

often look the same. The international policy

emphasizes more in the cooperation between two or

more countries. International policy is produced by

the governments of the world countries through

inter-state forums. Whilethe global policy is a policy

aimed at achieving the welfare of the world society.

The area of global policy focuses globally as a

process (or process) that creates an intercontinental

and interregional flow and a network of activities

and interactions, and a new multi-level policy

framework by the public and private actors,

involving and exceeding national, international and

transnational policy regimes.

The global policy is the policy on the

achievement of the welfare of the world society.

Global policy is formed by larger international

public policy groups. There is a tendency to view the

global policy as a process that occurs in international

conferences and conducts discussions in

organizations beyond the reach of the state (beyond

state).To form the global civil society, a

transnationalization process needs to be done. Some

of these stages are: First, conducts an issue

campaign in which this stage aims to expand the

network of support and voice solidarity to the

international audiences. This first stage is expected

to create attention and awareness on the issues being

established. Second, there is recognition that the

issues being established at the national level are also

felt by other countries' civil society. The third stage

is the concrete international cooperation of civil

society organizations from various countries with

equal attention. Fourth, international solidarity

toward the issue in which then become the basis of

global civil society.

This transnationalization process is supported by

two major factors, namely the emergence of civil

society in a country and the development factor of

communication technology and transportation. The

same thing is stated by Davies that there are 5

factors that affect the local civil society to be global

is a technological factor, economic, social, external

politics,and internal politics itself. Then, the next

thing that needs to be done is to formulate some

ways about the society needs. Do not let the

movement that established is incompatible with the

society needs.Targets that are rational and

harmonious with the goals must also be determined

to influence the global policy that ultimately is a

positive response from the community in the form of

support and trust.

2.2 Call to Action against Poverty

(GCAP): Arena Global Civil

Society

The form of involvement of the Global Call to

Action Against Poverty (GCAP) can be seen from

some of the international demands they are

undertaking. GCAP is the formation of civil society

from many countries to call upon the world leaders

to carry out their promises, especially on issues of

poverty. It is because until today 50,000 people die

every day because of the poverty, and every second

3 children die. GCAP is meant as an open meeting

for world social movements, NGO networks, world

civil society organizations to eradicate poverty. For

GCAP, global imbalances and poverty is a form of

an unfair economic system. It can be seen from the

debts that wrapped around emerging countries,

unfair global trade, as well as the overly convoluted

requirements for debt relief to poor and developing

countries. In 2000, world leaders again committed to

fighting poverty, also known as the Millennium

Declaration, with the aim to reduce the number of

poor people by 2015. Indonesia is one of the

countries that approved the Millennium Declaration.

According to its official website, the GCAP

organization has involved 38 million people in

action in 2005 in more than 75 countries and 23

million people in 2006 in over 85 countries. The

2005 campaign brought the success marked by the

meeting of 170 members of the International

Facilitation Group in Beirut in 2006 that resulted in

an agreement to continue the campaign on 31

December 2007. It is the meeting point of the global

community. The campaign was set up at a

conference in Johannesburg, South Africa on the end

of 2004 and was officially launched at the World

Social Forum in Brazil on the first of January 2005.

This campaign was responded quickly and grew to

gain its status as the world's most massive anti-

poverty campaign by building on existing networks,

as well as their strategies and activities. There are

currently over a thousand members of this

organization and millions of supporters around the

world. This movement has several demands as

follow:

• Public accountability, Fair Government and

the Fulfillment of Human Rights

• Women's Rights and Gender Justice

• Climate Justice

• Trade Justice

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406

• Support and Financing for Development

• Debt Cancellation

• Peace and Security

Throughout 2005, GCAP mobilized millions of

people through a series of ‘White Band Days’, when

the symbol was used to highlight the injustices of

global poverty. Below is the

White Band Day

table performed by GCAP.

Table 1. Implementation of White Band Day

White Band Day 1 July 1, 2005

White Band Day 2 September 10, 2005

White Band Day 3 December 10, 2005

White Band Day 4 October 17, 2006

White Band Day 5 October 12, 2007

A month of mobilization was launched on

16 September 2005 (coinciding with the annual

meeting of the IMF and World Bank). For a month,

countries around the world carried out a series of

actions culminating in global white band day. The

White Band remains a symbol of campaign and

expression of solidarity against poverty. During

2007, national campaigns and coalitions were

mobilized on primary national dates as well as

international white band days. From September 1

October 20

, 2008, caring citizens in more than 100

countries joined together for 50 Days.

The following is the name of the coalition of

countries:

Table 2. The Coalition of Country

Name Countries

Plus d’excuses France

Deine Stimme Gegen Armut Germany

Make Poverty History Japan

Make Poverty History Australia

Make Poverty History Canada

Make Poverty History Ireland

Make Poverty History Emirates (UAE)

Make Poverty History United Kingdom

Make Poverty History Nigeria

The ONE Campaign Singapore

The ONE Campaign USA

EEN - Armoede de Wereld uit The Netherlands

SANGOCO South Africa

Wada Na Todo India

No More Excuses Philippines

Gemeinsam gegen Armut Switzerland

GCAP once held a campaign awarded by Guinness

World of Records as “Stand Up” Against Poverty

for 24 hours. It was held on the last day of the

International Day for Poverty Eradication. It was

conducted for 24 hours starting at 10:00 am on

October 15

and ending at 10:00 am on October

. The record was confirmed and released by the

Guinness officials on October 17. In the official

note, Guinness stated the single largest coordinated

movement of people in the history of the Guinness

World Record, as set at 23.542.614 ‘Stand Up

Events’ registered in 85 countries around the world.

From October 17

-19

, 2008, citizens around the

world would try to break this record again.

The coordination of this organization consists of

the International Facilitation Group (IFG) to assist

the coordination of campaigns at the international

level that has a task force. They have a network of

national coalitions in certain countries committed to

making poverty a part of the past and supporting the

Strengthening the Role of Global Civil Society for Global Policy

407

GCAP platform. The campaign is not limiting and is

currently an alliance of existing coalitions,

community groups, trade unions, individuals, actors,

religious groups, campaigners, non-governmental

organizations and more. The campaign has grown to

over 115 countries.

2.3 Dilemmas Global Civil Society

Criticisms and dilemmas for the global civil society

are indeed not spared on this issue. For example, the

first is about funding because in general, civil

society in developing countries depends on the

donor institutions in developed countries. Second,

on determining the issues to raise. Civil society from

the developed countries dominates the issue by

leading and determining the issues that will become

the world issues or that will be implemented by civil

society in developing countries. It becomes a

dilemma of the civil society movement itself.

Chandoke conceptualizes the global civil society as

a phenomenon of Wallerstein’s world system. There

are three classifications. First is the civil society

center, which is the civil society originating from the

developed countries. Second is semi-periphery civil

society, that is the civil society originating from

countries that have advanced civil society

movement, and third is civil society periphery, that

is the civil society from backward countries with

weak civil society movement.

The relation of these three classifications is the

contestation relation where the civil society center

seeks to dominate the civil society periphery. It is

proven by the dependence of the civil society from

developing countries to the civil society from the

developed countries. Not to mention the existence of

political affiliation of specific groups that is

challenging to avoid from the civil society

operations. It is very difficult for the global civil

society in general to survive without the support of

the powerful parties. That is why when the global

civil society enters a local issue, its policy will then

be limited if the dominant political elite wants

another policy. On the contrary, the political elite

will also get pressure from the civil society parties

associated with the case related to the profit and loss

of the civil society. Political elements and personal

interests in the case of the Global Civil Society are

once again not an easy task to solve.

Technology provides the ability to access

information more quickly and efficiently; economic

conditions, particularly the crisis will bring fear and

impact the new movements; social changes with

their trends also affect through the reaction of the

relationship of the public with the markets and

countries. Since the civil society in the developing

countries depends on the financing, generally they

seem to be dominated in determining the issues they

will handle.

However, in addition to achieving success, there

are obstacles and hurdles addressed to the global

civil society in the process of democratic

accountability in global governance. The global civil

society also has several obstacles to enter the global

governance sphere. First, the resource problems

experienced by the global civil society are one of the

obstacles to face; second, the global civil society

network is still concerned with the resource issues;

third, the way the global civil society work is still

related to the government; fourth, mass media has a

role in publicizing and popularizing the global civil

society; fifth, the political cultures in a region

becomes a determinant of the global civil society

movement; and sixth, it is concerned with the

accountability possessed by global civil society in

achieving the public interest.

3 CONCLUSION

The causes of structural inequality, high inequality

between the rich and the poor must be minimized. It

is essential that the countries around the world can

lead to high-quality development, the development

that can end poverty and marginalization, gender

equality, protect human rights, defend the

environment. Global civil society must be able to

stand together with each other because it is not only

about technical challenges but also a political

challenge. Massive and systematic pressure waves

are necessary to achieve change. The actual

important thing is the freedom of expression, the

ability to express opinions, needs and desires to

criticize and hold leaders’ responsibility, to have

access to free and fair media should be given to the

Global Civil Society.

Despite the weaknesses of the global civil

society, we must still believe that the movement

needs to be mobilized together. Building an ideal

global civil society civilization such as building a

society that wants to be achieved according to the

mutual agreement in forming a dignified, educated,

knowledgeable, mature society in viewing natural

and social phenomena, principled, justice, and so

forth. We should optimize our reasoning power to

keep answering life's problems because great

civilization is a civilization capable of creating an

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economically, politically, socially, culturally and

materially suitable environment.

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