Changing The Regime And The NGO-Led Civil Society

By Udan Fernando -December 17, 2014

Dr. Udan Fernando

Let me first thank ICES for inviting me to speak on this panel,[1] which I think is a very timely initiative to break the silence of, what I would call, the NGO-led civil society. I am not making a sweeping statement here that the NGO-led civil society has kept mum on the issue of the upcoming Presidential Elections. Some NGOs have been busy, particularly the election monitors. But by and large, I think, this is the first time, a meeting has been convened by a NGO-styled civil society organization to explicitly discuss the perspective of civil society on the Presidential Election. So let me congratulate ICES for the courage it had displayed by sticking out its neck when many others are reluctant or scared to do so for understandable, but not acceptable reasons.

To begin with, I would like to share with you my understanding of civil society as it is such a vague and often loosely understood concept. Don’t worry, I am not going to deliver a long lecture on political philosophy from Fergurson, Locke to Gramsci and Habermas! This is not the forum for it, I understand. What I want to do, instead, is to make it clear that we cannot speak of a civil society. Civil society is NOT a homogenous one. Rather, it is a domain where you see many strands of ideologies, strategies and activisms at play. At times, these strands contradict each other. In that sense, civil society is not a harmonious site; often it is a contradictory and conflict-ridden site. Therefore, I see many strands of civil societies – I underline the plural form – within the broader domain of what lies outside the market and state. But then, the boundaries are fluid and blurred. They overlap.

So what kind of civil society are we talking about?

So what kind of civil society are we talking about?

• Are we talking about a Bodu Bala Sena, Ravana Balaya and Sinhala Ravaya kind of civil society? Well, if we use the broad definition of the domain outside market and state, BBS is indeed a civil society organization, but their civility is highly problematic and questionable. But let’s leave that ‘normative’ element of civil society aside for a while.
• Or, is it the NGO-led or ‘NGOized’ civil society that we are talking about? I don’t need to explain much about this strand of civil society because most of you are representing such organizations which are basically well organized, resourced, staffed and even institutionalized.Read More