Sunday Times 2
Checking ‘de-democratisation of the state’ through vibrant civic activism
This publication, though it is small in size, makes an important contribution to understand some vital aspects of the political status quo in Sri Lanka. The broader context of this book, a direct outcome of a symposium on the same topic, is marked by fundamental changes occurring in the political landscape in Sri Lanka. Central to these changes is the weakening of political parties and increasing role of non-party political players in steering major political changes. It is in this context that this work on “democracy and civic space” is a timely intervention.
It asks the following fundamental question and attempts to answer it: “How can we understand and analyse the roots of the crisis, transcending its day-to-day eruptions?”
One may perhaps wary of the term “crisis”, as it has now become too familiar a label to characterise the political status quo. However, it is undeniable that Sri Lanka’s political landscape is going through a major transformation though it has failed to resolve fundamental political problems.
The work set the foundation for it with a quite valid hypothesis. It underscores the following pre-requisite for a functional democracy. “Democracy requires a live civic space for it to be functional. Without civic space, democracy will be sterile and, as a result, it will succumb to a natural death in sprit. Three fundamental freedoms define the parameters of civic space: freedom of association, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression (p. 7).”
It further argues that “in contrast to the theoretical discourse, democracy in many parts of the world is threatened on the ground level. The tide of right-wing populism in many traditional democracies threatened the liberal democratic guarantees and safeguards hitherto enjoyed by ‘others’ in the political and social margins in these societies.”
The work is an outcome of a symposium organised by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo and three main chapters of the book are based on the papers presented at the symposium. It also contains a useful preface by the editors and a ‘rapporteur’s report’ of discussion following the main presentations.
Prof. Uyangoda’s chapter
Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda’s chapter, titled ‘Democracy, Civil Society and Civil Space’ provides us with a vivid account of how the idea ‘civil society’ began in political philosophy, parallel to the emergence of an intermediate civic political space between the state and the day-to-day life of the general masses. His conceptual elaboration of ‘civil society’ ranged from classical political philosophy such as those of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke to more recent thinkers such as Robert Putnum and Rajni Kothari. By doing so, he draws the reader’s attention to the all-important question of understanding the intermediate realm of political actions of citizens, in between the private space of the individual and the state.
He raises this point with reference to an important moment in contemporary political life, which is highlighted by the rise of such political figures to the prominence such as the United States’ Donald Trump, India’s Narendra Singh Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Erdogan. He argues that the rise of these leaders represents “a global backlash” against the failure of “the so-called third wave of democratisation” (p.5). This is a highly valid point of departure because, as Uyangoda discusses, it was in the context of the “so-called third wave of democratization” that the new enthusiasm for ‘civil society’ based political imagination acquired a high degree of political relevance.
The timely importance of Uyangoda’s intervention is that it helps us demystify the whole discourse of the relevance of mass political actions which were identified as “civil society” based activities and to place them in a proper historical and political context. It is important to draw our attention to what he terms as “the global rise of illiberal alternatives to democracy”.
Suggesting that democracy has “entered a historical phase of retreat”, Uyangoda reckons it as an impact of three conditions, namely, (a) economic globalisation and its negative social consequences, (b) spread of nationalism fuelled by multiple insecurities, and (c) the new wars between terrorism and the global state system.
Prof. Keerawella’s chapter
Gamini Keerawella has endeavored to chart the evolution of what he terms as “civic space” in post-colonial Sri Lanka. He draws our attention to the discrepancy between “rhetoric and substance” of Sri Lankan democracy. Based on the elaboration of the democratic system of government in terms of six facets, he analyses what he terms as “democratic decay and backsliding democratic process” in post-colonial Sri Lanka.
He draws our attention to a number of important post-colonial political landmarks, which are pivotal in understanding the dialectical relationship between democracy and civic space. They include the United National Party’s 1977 landslide election victory, which is popularly perceived as the beginning of an era of, to use Keerawella’s own words, “contraction of democratic structures”, the 1994 election of victory of the People’s Alliance government which came into power with promises of democratic reforms, yet causing “irreversible damage to [its] democratic credentials” in the end, the political context in which the war ended in 2009 where “the democratic deficit had become a fact of political life”, and the January 2015 presidential election which was “viewed as a victory for democracy”.
Jehan Perera’s chapter
Jehan Perera’s chapter is an effort to assess the prospects for the future of “civic activism” in the context of the transfer of power at the November 2019 presidential election. His contribution is a testimony to the highly divisive nature of the “civic space political activism” in contemporary Sri Lanka. Perhaps, Perera’s contribution could be used as a point of departure to contemplate on the relevance of conceptual and historical insights into the “civic space” politics as provided by Uyangoda and Keerawella.
As evident from Perera’s contribution, space of civic political activism in Sri Lanka could be seen as divided space along the line of opposing political camps. While discussing the highly challenging circumstances for what he terms as ‘civil society’ activism, his testimony makes us realise that this realm of activism is highly problematic and, contrary to the claims major actors in this space to be autonomous, they are closely connected to power-seeking party-based political elites.
The ‘rapporteur’s report’ of discussion highlights the relevance of the topic and raises the need to continue the debate on this important theme.
It is historically proven that the presence of a vibrant civic political activism is vital for the deepening of democracy. The absence of autonomous realm of civic activism has to be highlighted as central to the weakening of democracy in an era in which the state is increasingly dominated by elites, frequently, with a strong popular support.
As popular support is mobilised through various elitist maneuvering of public opinion, particularly at elections, and satisfying numerous material needs of the voting population, the ruling elite gains the upperhand in arbitrarily controlling the state machinery to promote their own vested interests.
Such a political constituency, largely consisting of a silent majority, is not capable of effectively challenging the ‘de-democratisation’ of state affairs. Collective political interests of the public are ideologically mediated by the elite, particularly through the economic power they enjoy. These circumstances are certainly a major symptom of the weakening of democracy.
As the contributors of this work convincingly propose, the most effective way to check this ‘de-democratisation of the state’ is through a vibrant civic activism. That is certainly why the realm of civic activism is always severely threatened by the state machinery, mostly, with the ideologically mediated popular support.
At the same time, it is also becoming a dominant trend that this intermediate realm of civic activism is also penetrated by elements that are manipulated by the ruling elite, by undermining its autonomy and legitimacy. In such a situation the thin line between civic activism that may, authentically, represent collective political interests of the public and certain activism backed by various elements of the ruling elite become blurred. This is indeed a major issue that severely challenged the authenticity and autonomy of the realm of civic activism.
It is, however, undeniable that the strengthening of the intermediate space of political activism between the state and the people is sine qua non in reversing the ‘de-democratisation process’ that the contributors of this work have drawn our attention to. The broadening and deepening of the discourse that this work has contributed to are therefore indispensable.
Book facts
Democracy and Civic Space in Sri Lanka: Discourse and Trajectories
Edited by Prof. Gamini Keerawella and Natasha Fernando
Published by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo, 2020