http://www.cis.org.au/Policy/Spr99/polspr99-2.htm
Civil Society and Development: The Missing Link
by Hadi Soesastro
Societies in East Asia are in a process of democratisation. They are at different stages in the process. Some have been able to establish a vibrant democratic society (Philippines and South Korea), others are at varying degrees of infancy (Thailand, Indonesia since 1998), and some others are still trying to find the best way of opening up their political systems (China, Vietnam). Some East Asian countries believe that they have established an Asian-style democratic society (Singapore, Japan). In other societies formal structures of democracy exist but the conditions for the full realisation of democracy are weak or weakening (India, Malaysia).
The process of democratic consolidation and the nature of democracy that exists in a society are perhaps reflected in the strength of its civil society. Civil society is, together with state and market, one of the three 唼pheres?that interface in the making of democratic society (UNDP 1993). In the words of Barber (1998), civil society is 偤n independent domain of free social life where neither governments nor private markets are sovereign.?Civil society has also been called the private non-profit sector or the voluntary sector. The important, perhaps critical, role of this 啍hird sector?in the democratisation process has been advanced by Walzer (1997) in unambiguous terms: 匭nly a democratic state can create a democratic civil society; only a democratic civil society can sustain a democratic state.?Wolfe (1991) believes that 偆oth democratic government and a free economy depend on virtues and values generated neither by the state nor by the market, but by civil society.?/font>