The Weakness of Postcommunist Civil Society

In Howard’s study on the weakness of postcommunist civil society, he argues that a weak postcommunist civil society is an obstacle to consolidating democracy. There are many compelling reasons that he offers to explain this phenomena of weak civic skills in postcommunist countries. Mistrust of the former communist regime which repressed non-state activity and voluntary organizations and supplanted such activity by devising mandatory participation in state-controlled organizations is a main obstacle to developing civic skills and increasing political leverage among citizens. On the other hand, his argument of persistence of friendship networks appears as an overstatement where he gives the impression that citizens in postcommunist countries still live under the fear of trusting other members of the community and withdraw themselves from engaging socially with those that are outside of their private circles.

The negative impacts of weak civil society on the quality of democracy is associated with the arguments put forth by Robert Putnam who stresses that voluntary organizations “instill in their members habits of cooperation and public spiritedness, as well as practical skills to partake in public life”. A democracy that is not supported actively by the larger population is dysfunctional.
Another way in which a weak civil society hampers the consolidation of democracy is the minimal representation of their voices and views in the political-making process due to a fragmentation of opinions, interests and preferences.

Howard proposes two ways of solving the problem, although only one argument is relatively more convincing as it directly addresses the problem of the sentiments and attachments towards the peoples lifestyles and personal histories in the former regime. It would be implausible to “encourage postcommunist citizens to acquire familiarity, comfort and a new positive association with voluntary organizations” if this inherent resistance and prejudiced attitudes towards a new system remain. Therefore, the only viable solution would be to allow time and the mechanism of generational change to gradually develop this trend of letting go of communist ways and participating in voluntary organizations where a new generation and the following generations will become more embracing of such activities. This argument, however, may not hold true if ones’ parents, teachers and peers induce the same pattern of attitudes and behaviours that are passed on to the following generations despite the changed institutional setting.