KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

and to the fact that it is popularly associated solely with non-governmental organizations
(dealing only with democracy-related issues).
The absence in Kyrgyzstan of both a clear-cut development vector and a model of a
government/social structure makes it impossible for non-governmental organizations to
identify vectors for their own development. When civic involvement and civic education 5
are not a national policy priority, this could have a very detrimental effect on the country’s
future, since public life and civic involvement are a fundamental condition for the emergence
of civic consciousness in the country, and for the continued existence of the state as such.
In Kyrgyzstan, government institutions tend to overlook issues related to
social norms. Society’s values are now shaped primarily by religious organizations.
Those organizations that seek to advance the ideas of Islam work closely with local
communities: by helping them solve specific problems (e.g. improving village
infrastructure, supporting low-income families) they enlist popular support. These
organizations emphasize public morals, family and social relations, and people’s
spiritual orientations, and in this way help individuals see themselves as part of society
with common ideas and values.
Experience shows that it is extremely difficult for NGOs, which represent civic
(secular) culture, to collaborate with religious organizations, since their core ideas are
vastly different. NGOs lack, therefore, strategic partners in promoting democratic values
in society, other than international organizations. And yet, the involvement of donors in
the country has decreased considerably in the past few years, intensifying competition
for resources and stalling the growth of NGOs in terms of both quantity and of quality.
The question of the role and activities associated, with religious organizations
remains unclear. Their role should not be underestimated, since they too are civil society
organizations that seek to advance certain values, the only difference being that the values
they advance are different from those promoted by NGOs as liberal, democratic bodies.
Here we should turn to the concept of civil society, which encompasses a wide variety of
institutions that operate in the public space and advance diverse goals and interests.
What Is Civil Society?
While NGOs are an integral, crucial part of civil society, the definition of civil society
and its goals is not restricted to non-governmental organizations, or to direct links with
democratization. The concept of civil society is significantly more complex than that,
and its definitions are still being elaborated by social scientists in many countries.
In general, civil society refers to a range of voluntary, collective actions based on
common interests and purposes. It includes a variety of institutional forms and actors,
which differ from each other in the extent that they are formalized, their independence
and strength. Charitable associations, development NGOs, professional associations,
trade unions, community groups, self-help groups, social movements, religious
organizations, and business associations… these are the organizations that comprise
civil society. In theory, the concept of civil society is considered as separate from that of
state, family, or market, although in practice the boundaries between these sectors are
not always clearly drawn 6 .
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By civic education we mean knowledge about what it means to be a citizen and ways in which citizens
fit into the system of social values and into the state as a whole.
6
The definition of civil society is borrowed from the website of the Centre for Civil Society, London
School of Economics. See: www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCS/what_is_civil_society.htm
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