In addition to the act of voting, I suggest that citizens should participate in the decision- making process in the public sphere. Joining civil society organisations, attending political party meetings and government run forums such as Izimbizo13 is just as valuable to citizens as it is to democracy. Democracy is deepened as we have stronger levels of representation – citizens‟ views are expressed not just every four or five years in an election but in each important issue through civil society action.14 It is not however a case of citizens having to sacrifice their time to improve democracy with no benefits to themselves. There is firstly value in having a strong democracy as it guarantees human rights to each individual and ensures that their views are taken into consideration in the political process. When citizens participate, they have the opportunity to influence the government toward a decision that they feel is in their best interests. I suggest however, that it is also important for citizens to recognise that there is a benefit to participation beyond that of achieving their own ends. Pateman argues that feeling competent or able to participate meaningfully and thus feeling as if one has some form of control over the
13 Izimbizo is a Zulu word for a gathering of people called together by leaders. These are held by the South African government as a part of the consultation process at the local level.
14 This participation is valuable as it is among citizens as well as between citizens and the state. Referenda between elections, for example, are unhelpful as citizens are not engaging with each other but casting individual ballots.
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decision-making process is important to the satisfaction that workers gain from their jobs, and thus their morale and efficiency (1970:53). Similarly, this argument can be applied to citizens and the attitude that they have toward democracy because it suggests that it is beneficial to the wellbeing of citizens to participate actively. Pateman further argues that
the individual‟s actual, as well as his sense of, freedom is increased through participation in decision making because it gives him a very real degree of control over the course of his life and the structure of his environment.
(1970:26)
Participation is thus valuable because when we actively contribute toward the decision- making process, it helps us to feel in control of our lives. Pateman argues that when we feel more politically efficient, we are more likely to continue to participate because
„underlying the sense of political efficacy is a sense of general, personal effectiveness which involves self-confidence in one‟s dealings with the world (1970:46). Pateman therefore suggests that there is personal value in participation for citizens as it helps to boost their self-confidence and personal efficacy.
Cornwall and Coehlo support this argument with evidence that citizens who do participate talk of personal fulfilment from the process (2007:22). They argue that participatory sphere institutions can act as „schools for citizenship where those who participate learn new meanings and practices of citizenship by working together‟
(2007:23). Citizens do not only contribute their own views but learn from the contributions of others. The diversity of agents in an active civil society allows for deepened understanding of issues and of fellow citizens and allows citizens to see beyond their own immediate problems and viewpoints (2007:23). Issues are debated and so to
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the individual citizen it becomes more than just an issue of how it will affect them but a moral issue that needs to be analysed. This is because when we are aware of more than just our own interests, we are more likely to see issues in a broader moral context and thus come to more „moral conclusions‟. In this way participation aids citizens in their moral development. Cornwall and Coehlo posit that „involving citizens more directly in processes of governance makes for better citizens‟ (2007:4). In other words, one can argue that the value in participation is that through interaction with other citizens, and striving toward a common good, citizens are able to exercise and develop their capacity to become „good‟.
It should be clear by now that civil society is valuable for a number of reasons. The public sphere provides a space in which citizens can participate and come to a shared conception of the good. This participation is valuable to both the individual and democracy. To the individual it allows for personal development and the awareness of the interests of others within society. In addition, it ensures that the interests of citizens are truly represented as they can be aired and discussed in civil society and not just reflected in a vote every five years. This representation allows for a deeper conception of democracy as the very core of democracy lies in the wish to allow equal representation for all. The public sphere is an open forum that gives everyone equal opportunity to discuss issues and thus represents the values of equality and freedom of speech that democracy advocates. These aspects of civil society are what give it worth. Citizens do not necessarily all have equal ability to use these opportunities but the creation of these opportunities is still valuable. In order to ensure this worth to society, it is important that our conceptions of civil society reflect the kind of civil society that allows for real representation and the uniting of citizens under shared conceptions of the good. The next section will discuss what kind of conception of civil society is necessary in order to ensure that its intrinsic value is not lost. It is this conception of civil society that I support, and will be discussing throughout this dissertation.
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