Structure and basic civil society institutions

Civil society in Uzbek political life is now spoken by many, not really understanding what it is. Of course, this state of affairs was engendered by decades, when the very concept of civil society was excluded from Russian theoretical and legal knowledge. But although now civil society has entered the scientific and political turn, it should not become a kind of fetish. Statements like “democracy is impossible without a developed civil society” should not be taken on faith.

That is why it is worth turning to the origins of this concept, its original content. At the previous stage, the domestic theory of state and law also turned to the origins, but, alas, mainly of class content, to the compulsory characteristics of the state and law. And left aside the richest theoretical and legal heritage of Hegel. Only philosophical ideas were drawn from him, and those that were consonant with the ideals of transforming society into communist prosperity, mainly dialectical logic. The time has come to look at other shelves where Hegel's theoretical and legal legacy is kept.

Civil society received a deeply meaningful concept, as already mentioned, in the writings of Hegel, in his famous Philosophy of Law.

According to Hegel, civil society is, first of all, a system of needs based on private property, as well as religion, family, estates, state structure, law, morality, duty, culture, education, laws and the resulting mutual legal ties of subjects. From the natural, “uncultured” state “people must enter civil society, because only in the latter do legal relations have reality”. At the same time, he emphasized that such a society is possible only "in the modern world." In other words, civil society was opposed to savagery, underdevelopment, and uncivilization. And by it was meant, of course, the classical bourgeois society.

The main element in Hegel's doctrine of civil society is a person - his role, functions, position. According to Hegelian views, an individual is a goal for himself, his activity is aimed, first of all, at satisfying his own needs (natural and social). In this sense, she is a kind of egoistic individual. At the same time, a person can satisfy his needs only by being in certain relationships with other people. In civil society, everyone is a goal for himself, all others are nothing for him. But without correlation with others, he cannot achieve the full scope of his goals.

A special approach to the problem of civil society can be traced in Marxism. K. Marx believed that the state, outwardly embracing civil society as a whole, in fact serves the interests of the owners of the dominant social groups. He said: “Take a certain stage of development of production, exchange and consumption and you will get a certain social system, a certain organization of the family, estate or classes - in a word, a certain civil society. Take a certain civil society, and you get a certain political system, which is only the official expression of civil society”.

An interesting approach to this problem is the famous Italian sociologist A. Gramsci. By civil society, he understood the network of “private” organizations of social classes and strata not directly included in the apparatus of state power: professional, religious, charitable, as well as social and political groups and associations. He positioned civil society between the economic and political societies, closely linking it both with these economic structures and with the state - the arena of open class struggle, which receives its decision and takes political and legal forms of domination.

The most authoritative in the scientific literature is the definition formulated by scientists from the Center for Civil Society at the London School of Economics: “Civil society is an arena of voluntary collective action based on shared interests, goals and values. In theory, the institutional forms of civil society differ from those for the state, family and market, but in practice the boundaries of the state, civil society, family and market are complex, vague and subject to discussion. Civil society is usually made up of organizations such as: registered charities, development nongovernmental organizations, communities, women's organizations, trust-based organizations, professional associations, labor unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associations, coalitions and advocacy groups. -or / someone's views. "

All the above definitions do not contradict each other, but rather indicate that civil society is a complex, multifaceted and multifactorial phenomenon.

So, from the above views on civil society of the most prominent representatives of the political philosophy of various countries, the following conclusions can be drawn:

• -    civil society is a product of the historical development of mankind, which appeared during the period of the beginning of the formation of the rule of law;

• -    a prerequisite for the emergence of a civil society is the opportunity for all citizens to gain economic independence on the basis of private property;

• -    the most important prerequisite for the formation of civil society is the elimination of class privileges and the growth of a person's personality;

• -    the formation of civil society depends on the degree of development of economic and legal relations, the effectiveness of the mechanism of public control over state and power structures;

• -    civil society is in close connection with the state.

The modern understanding of civil society presupposes that it has a complex of essential features. The absence or underdevelopment of some of them makes it possible to determine the state of "health" of a social organism and the necessary directions for its self-improvement.

Civil society is a community of free individuals. In economic terms, this means that each individual is the owner. He is free to choose the forms of ownership, determine the profession and type of labor, and manage the results of his labor. In social terms, an individual's belonging to a particular social community (family, clan, class, nation) is not absolute. He can exist independently, has the right to a sufficiently autonomous self-organization to meet his needs and interests. The political aspect of the freedom of the individual as a citizen lies in his independence from the state, that is, in the possibility, for example, to be a member of a political party or association that criticizes the existing state power, has the right to participate or not to participate in the elections of state authorities and local authorities. self-government. Freedom is considered secured when an individual, through certain mechanisms (court, etc.), can restrict the arbitrariness of state or other structures in relation to himself.

Civil society is an open social education. It ensures freedom of speech, including freedom of criticism, publicity, access to various kinds of information, the right to free entry and exit, a wide and constant exchange of information, educational technologies with other countries, cultural and scientific cooperation with foreign state and public organizations, assistance to the activities of international and foreign associations in accordance with the principles and norms of international law. It is committed to general humanistic principles and is open to interact with similar entities on a planetary scale.

Civil society is a complexly structured pluralistic system. The presence of diverse social forms and institutions (trade unions, parties, associations of entrepreneurs, consumer societies, clubs, etc.) makes it possible to express and realize the most diverse needs and interests of individuals, to reveal the entire originality of the human being. Pluralism, as a feature that characterizes the structure and functioning of a social system, manifests itself in all its spheres: in the economic sphere, it is a variety of forms of ownership (private, joint-stock, cooperative, public and state); in social and political - the presence of a wide and developed network of public formations in which the individual can express and defend himself; in the spiritual - the provision of worldview freedom, the exclusion of discrimination on ideological grounds, a tolerant attitude towards various religions, opposing views.

Civil society is a legal democratic society, where the connecting factor is the recognition, provision and protection of natural and acquired human and civil rights. The ideas of civil society about the rationality and justice of power, about the free well-being of the individual correspond to the ideas of the priority of law, the unity of law and law, and the legal delimitation of the activities of various branches of state power. Civil society on the way to the rule of law is developing together with the state. The rule of law can be considered the result of the development of civil society and a condition for its further improvement.