Question of Legitimacy

NGO-ism and the civic society mandate
The Czech political teacup has been stirred up by President Václav Klaus’ statement warning against the menace of ‘post-democracy’, represented by non-governmental organisations, which allegedly wish to interfere with the functioning of the democratic society and assert their own interests without any mandate resulting from democratic election. He then repeated the statement at a seminar held by the Centre for Economics and Politics, where he titled non-governmental organisations and civil society ideological players, and warned against the menace of ‘NGO-ism’. By doing so, he revived his decade-long controversy with the ex-President Václav Havel, who was a great promoter of civil society and politics outside of political parties.

What then justifies the political demands of CS, which is neither elected nor controlled by the electorate? Does it make any sense to pay attention to such ‘self-appointed’ voices? This is the right point to mention the two types of legitimacy of civil society: that of its existence and that of its actions. The legitimacy of the existence of civil society stems from the constitutional right of assembly and freedom of expression. This right is unquestionable and guaranteed by any democratic society. But the actions of civil society need legitimacy as well. In this respect, the existence of civil society is justified by the nature of its activity. In an overwhelming majority of cases, civil society functions as a protector of rights, democracy, marginalised and oppressed groups, and the environment. It is the public (and indirectly its sponsors) who evaluate its benefits for the democracy. This role is all the more important in the globalisation process, which suffers an increase in the so-called democratic deficit. That could be described as the growing gap between decision-making and a legitimate democratic process (elections, etc.). In a situation where a number of decisions are made at the supra-national level without direct linkage to a democratic process, the role of civil society as a protector of democracy is all the more important.