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ARTICLES. The Voluntary Reconstruction of Civil Society in Post-Communist Countries: The Role of the Independent, Non-Profit Sector

After many decades of rule by an all-powerful state, the nations of Eastern Europe are evolving towards a more liberal social system. But what are the indispensable elements of a liberal order? What is the ideal relationship between the state and civil society? And as the former communist countries make the transition, what are the dangers that await them? The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 seeks to identify the essential pre-conditions for a free society. If Western experience is a reliable guide then, not least among these pre-conditions is an autonomous sphere of private voluntary organisations devoted to the provision of services, either for the mutual benefit of participants or the benefit of others facing hardship. Section 3 is concerned with the voluntary sector. It will describe the voluntary organisations that flourished in Britain: the types of organisation that evolved, the tasks they undertook; and the way they were organised. It will focus on societies based on mutual aid, renouncing any element of philanthropy in favour of mutual obligation and entitlement. It will also look at the lessons learnt from over 200 years of evolution. Discarded ideas for internal organisation and rejected schemes for providing services will be described in order to throw light on what worked and what did not work. And finally Section 4 will look at how the state displaced the friendly societies in Britain at a time when their members comprised 75% of the working population.