(3) The National Report on Cultural Policy highlights a long tradition of cultural and art amateur associations in Croatia. Ultimately, the example of the disputes over the rights of self-employed artists, where the professional associations were not willing to accept any changes, and where the government decided to cut existing benefits without introducing any substitute measures, shows that a more democratic way of reaching strategic decisions has yet to be embraced. (http://www.policiesforculture.org). Sabi SC(1), Rieker M(2). In spite of resistance from many quarters, civil society is actually engaged in policy formulation, through a variety of formal and informal approaches. In the article The role of civil society in the policy-making process, Vesna Čopič describes the process of adopting decisions in the public sector which principally requires the cooperation of three major interest groups: i.e. of Cultures | Livre: Das Verbindende der Kulturen | Book: The Unifying Aspects Lobbying can be both formal and informal; it can take place through official commissions or bodies (i.e. (Bežovan, 1998) Still, regardless of this fact, he thinks that the civil society in Croatia does not have a strong tradition. Gojko Bežovan, one of the leading contemporary theorists of civil society in Croatia claims that all relevant Croatian institutions established at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century were created as a result of civic engagement. Katunarić, Vjeran; Cvjetičanin, Biserka (1998) Kulturna politika Republike Hrvatske: Nacionalni izvještaj, Ministarstvo kulture Republike Hrvatske, Zagreb. The biggest obstacle in achieving a higher degree of independence is the fact that councils do not have an independent budget. While health and education ministers have thousands of hospitals and schools, and millions of public employees under their control, the culture minister typically has few directly managed resources. Information is vital to civic participation and also encourages its development. The role of civil society in the policy-making proces . This specificity is a consequence of the reality that the decision-makers (ministers of culture) have a very small number of institutions on which they can have a direct influence. Abstract. (Katunarić et al 2002). According to the finding of this report, non-governmental organizations, cultural institutions and individual artists exert a strong influence on the formulation and implementation of cultural policies (Katunarić, 1998) which includes their autonomous creation of arts’ programmes and also their influence on the decisions taken by governmental bodies and the bodies of local administration and self-government. Provide examples to support your answer Definitions of civil society Civil society is the spere outside of the family, the nation and the market where people associate to develop frequent interests. The development of civil society in the cultural sector has proceeded in Croatia in much more difficult circumstance than in other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. At present the Councils only exist on the national level, but the law also allows their foundation on county and town levels. Katunarić, Vjeran; Dragojević, Sanjin; Obuljen, Nina; Schramadei, Pavle (2002) Croatia for the Compendium of cultural policies in Europe: Council of Europe and ERICarts, www.culturalpolicies.net, Katunarić, Vjeran et al (2003) Croatia for the Compendium of cultural policies in Europe: Council of Europe and ERICarts, www.culturalpolicies.net. On one hand, there are numerous amateur arts’ organizations that are promoting local dancing and music, amateur theatre groups, brass orchestras, etc. The new development In October 2014, for the first time in recent history, the government of Myanmar decided to organize a public consultation to inform the development of a national policy. ?§(.Ó/îg»ŠÚÀO8{µ±ÒLeR/³æyÈzè=ÏÔXÊ.Q”ô¥ò$P[¬VÌ2å‹qEö}oÙµeZ K±µ“ÄÑá{¯k’'܄Íâ»*ïà©OÿZÕßOtÆ2ØÔéV™~‰õwSm±CÀe›æãæ-B托ü/k…£­J4†«C?EïWá°tWˆØ¸/èº|¯÷éŠÖ•V;—ÈïŸWn¡X¡œ&sò»cò9t[ê¸6¥úȉëà\ð@]qgÚ4¨â´%Ö$à]×]f³­×ÆO+_”§—`/Vš&Pkpe'. After institutional shock that the EU has experienced in 2001, there have been changes that have to be accepted by the aspirant countries including Croatia. In the programme of the Ministry of Culture for the period 2000-2004, Cultural Councils are described as a "new centre for decision making" which will help in transforming the Ministry of Culture into a coordinator of the "cultural co-deciding process". (Čopič, 2000) Even though politicians obtain their mandates directly from voters at elections and therefore, in theory, can make decisions without necessarily consulting with interested groups, Čopič correctly points out the difference between legal and legitimate decisions - an issue particularly interesting for the field of cultural policy. To support this consultation process, several organizations decided to organize civil society pre-consultation activities to listen and gather concerns from smallholder farmers to formulate relevant Role of civil society in the making of new India June 26, 2019, 6:11 PM IST Om Parida in The Rock Bottom , India , politics , TOI Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Les points communs des cultures, Internet-Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften. The Law on the Rights of Self-employed Artists and on the Promotion of Cultural and Artistic Creativity probably represents the highest possible degree of civil society engagement in influencing cultural policy making in Croatia. They do not receive funding for their work and moreover they are not distributing grants related to decisions made, which seriously limits the level of their independence(10). Faced with such loud protests from all artist organizations, the Ministry of Culture decided to bargain with the other ministries and found a way to avoid the application of these new measures to artistic creation. The new Law on Cultural Councils can also be considered as a significant step forward in decentralizing the decision making process. (2) Gojko Bežovan: The Structure of the civil society in Croatia: results of the empirical research. (9) See the Compendium of cultural policies, 2003. Gordon, Christopher (2001): Different roles which cultural organizations, administrators and artists can play in the policy development process (both centrally and locally). lic policy making in general. Bežovan, Gojko: Mogu li istraživanja koristiti razvoju neprofitnih i nevladinih organizacija u Hrvatskoj? Role of Civil Society: 1. Based on their artistic merits and achievements, according to this Law, self-employed artists have the right to health, pension and disability insurance. Civil society plays key roles in pushing for new laws, programmes, policies or strategies on climate change, in holding governments to account on their commitments; in identifying the lack of joined-up government responses to climate change; and in ensuring that national policy making does not forget the poor and vulnerable. A rather high degree of civil society involvement is envisaged in the execution of the Law on the Rights of Self-employed Artists and on the Promotion of Cultural and Artistic Creativity. | Section Groups Media and cultural aspects Development Policy Making and The Roles of Market, State, and Civil Society. Still, in order to give the necessary legitimacy to the work of the councils and to establish a true partnership with the civil society representatives, the Law on Cultural Councils will need to be amended or changed. While some authors claim that the last decades of the socialist regime did allow a certain degree of pluralism (Stubbs, 2001; Zakošek, 1991, 2000) others tend to analyse and describe the development and support for civil society initiatives as a new phenomenon linked with democratic changes that occurred in the early 1990s, since during the communist period the civil society was marginalized and ignored, even though the situation in Croatia was somewhat better than in other communist countries (Bežovan, Puljiz, 2000). In order to meet their own interest, that of achieving the desired outcome, politicians in power must organize their decision making process in such a way that the interested parties or stakeholders are involved, and in this way stand a reasonable chance of success. He highlights the role of the so-called "third" and cultural sectors that need to lobby and influence policy at all levels. civil society organization development cooperation 8 1.5 Influencing the development of civil society 9 1.6 Trends of policy guidance in the central comparison countries 10 2 Purpose and objective of development cooperation support for Finnish civil society 11 … to different Croatian non-governmental organizations which are not exclusively involved in artistic creation, but also operate in other segments of cultural life either as advocacy and lobbying organizations, research and study groups or managing grass-route projects in different areas such as cultural tourism, regional development or the environment. The fourth group of civil-society organisations include "all other" groups, from local branches of existing international non-governmental organizations (i.e. Civil society's ability to influence government policy will come under discussion later this month in the Scottish city of Glasgow at the CIVICUS World Assembly (Jun. Dr. Mathur speaks about the evolving role of citizen groups in public policy making. KEY WORDS Civil Society Organisations, Constitution-making process, Good governance, Development, Neoliberalism A number of different sections were organized (folk music, reciting poetry, literally, visual arts groups, etc.). In fact, the amount earmarked in the budget for the social and health benefits was drastically reduced, so that today those benefits can be labelled as "symbolic" rather than substantive. Role of civil society organisations in policy making Ask for details ; Follow Report by VishalNegi3388 22.06.2018 Log in to add a comment (ibid), Similar arguments can be found in Christopher Gordon’s article about the different roles that cultural organizations, administrators and artists, can play in the policy development process. The culture minister deals with a field which is inherently changeable and often seen as marginal to the government’s central objectives. Civil society often uses public mobilization to persuade policymakers to … This is a very flexible form of organizing artists that enables them to efficiently seek funding and execute different artistic projects. It is a community of conscious citizens, who are intelligent and well aware of the current political, economic, cultural and social situations in the world and their country in particular. Zakošek, Nenad: Civilno društvo, političke stranke i građanske udruge, Neprofitni centar, Zagreb, 5 (2000). Some of the provisions in these laws have been in existence even before democratic changes in the early 1990s, showing that there was a recognition of the need for a certain degree of pluralism even before a multi-party system was introduced in 1990. This paper was presented in the session "Media and Cultural Aspects of Civil Society" at the International Conference "The Unifying Aspects of Cultures", INST, Vienna, 7-9 November 2003. Advocacy and lobbying are surely the most visible and common ways a civil society influences the policy-making process in all sectors of public policy. Still, one of the issues remains the question of the level of involvement and participation as well as the number of active members of different organizations which represents a challenge in determining their legitimacy. The Law on Self-employed Artists has already been mentioned in this paper as a positive example of civil society involvement in the policy-making process. transitional states, the civil society sector plays a significant role in lobbying and pressur- ing governments for democratising politics and to complement policy changes (Bratton, 1994; Cohen and Rogers 1995; Kasfir, 1998). While democracy is ensured by elections, testing the quality of this democracy is another and more complicated issue. Puljiz, Vlado (2000) Civilno društvo u svijetu i u Hrvatskoj, Izazovi civilnog društva u Hrvatskoj, Zagreb. The diagnosis of AIDS in 1982 in South Africa was followed by a rapid rise in the number of people living with the virus and dying from AIDS-related illnesses. In examining these areas, I will demonstrate how the media and civil society play a crucial role in doing so. The third group of organizations includes different professional organizations which mostly act as advocacy organizations with a broad membership, including independent artists, artists employed in public institutions and/or professionals working in different cultural fields (i.e. First, I will define what civil society is since this will help us understand better its role in democratic governance. Still, the example of this Law also shows that the introduction of new pieces of legislation does not necessarily bring the desired changes, especially if it does not take into account the realities of public policy-making and everyday life. Herna O. S11/319841/EK/18645. Media and cultural aspects 2.3. One of civil society’s basic functions is to give a voice to vulnerable populations and communities who are utterly invisible for policy-making purposes. Antolović, Jadran (ur.) Subsequently, with the legislative changes that occurred in early 2003, and without any prior consultation with the Association of Self-employed Artists, the government abolished the benefits that were guaranteed by the Law on Self-employed Artists. Civil society organisations should be politically neutral in their pursuit of developmental goals and ought to practice what they preach by being democratic and accountable themselves. (Katunarić, 2001), Culture Councils, of which there are 11, are in fact, semi-arms’s-length bodies that propose goals of cultural policy and measures for achieving them, offer professional assistance to the Minister of Culture, work out the long-term national cultural programme and propose annual financial plans. Still, at the beginning it is important to remember that cultural policy is somewhat specific in comparison with other public policies, because the effective implementation of the majority of cultural policy measures generally depends on the civil society. Decisions taken by those authorised to do so are by no doubts legal but are they legitimate? Participants in CSOs were embracing important causes, conducting research, influencing public opinion and policy agendas, interacting with governing elites, and contributing to policy … Indeed the role of civil society is growing, as exemplified in its role in some important national development policies such as the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II: 2006-2009) and the National Budget Processes since 2005. These councils are primarily responsible for the establishment of professional standards both for the functioning of institutions and for setting the minimal requirements for employees and professional staff. Still, some NGOs and alternative art projects have been receiving funding and support from foundations such as the Open Society Institute. What is needed is a procedure, whereby no new measures would be adopted without proper debate and consultation with the civil society representatives who would be affected by the particular measures. politicians, officials (administration) and producers of public goods. The Law prescribes that, if the proposal of the Cultural council is rejected, the Minister must explain in writing the reasons why. Still, this is not always the case. More and more CSOs are recognising the need to understand policy processes better and use evidence to engage with them more effectively. This was supposed to be one of the most important reforms in the cultural policy decision-making process in Croatia as well as a major shift from the existing practices of financing culture to a more democratic process. Even though the role and effectiveness of civil participation in development is a highly contested issue, South Africa has adopted civil society participation in governance as key in promoting transparency, accountability and efficiency in government activities and as such established structures such as NEDLAC to fulfil this. 2.3. In order to overcome the challenges of highly centralized decision-making, and with the aim of including civil society representatives in cultural policy-making, in 2001 the Parliament adopted the Law on Cultural Councils. Čopič, Vesna 2002. The World Economic Forum launched the ‘Future Role of Civil Society… Through some examples of cultural policy-making in Croatia, this paper will show that there are still great disparities in the level of the involvement of civil society and while some institutional involvement existed well before the early 1990s and the democratic changes, at the same time the informal process of consultation with civil society has not yet been adopted as the most effective way for making important strategic decisions in the cultural policy field. The holistic and ‘horizontal’ (bottom-up) model is much more likely to succeed than the ‘vertical’ (top down) one, which will always be more vulnerable to sudden unexpected change, or even to the whims of particular politicians when in power. The war has considerably reduced the interest on the part of foreign endowments and foundations, as well as of public bodies to invest in this sector in Croatia. 21-25). There are many examples of efficient and cooperative communication between civil society representatives and policy makers that have resulted in improvements in certain cultural policy measures and instruments. build networks with like-minded stakeholders, so that civil society can play a stronger role in important policy processes, such as the national budget process. Neprofitni sektor, Zagreb, 5 (2000) 4. Čopič, Vesna 2002. Hague, Rod ; Harrop, Martin; Breslin, Shaun (2001) Komparativna vladavina i politika : Uvod, Politička misao, Zagreb. To illustrate some of these issues this article will analyse three different aspects of civil-society participation in cultural policy making: the general legislative framework for the involvement of the civil society in cultural policy making, attempts to decentralize decision making(4) and advocacy and lobbying. • Civil society and NGOs also have The Croatian Archival Council consists of eleven members, but the Croatian Archives Association, a non-governmental professional organization that represents professionals in this field, appoints only one member to this Council. Cultural councils, even if they have the authority to make decisions, do not have the necessary capacity or resources for their work. A civil society plays a crucial role in the growth and development of the country. most prominent in the civil society space (VanDyck, 2017, p. 1). The role of civil society in the policy making process; article published in a special bilingual supplement (Romanian/English) of 2 Magazine in Romania. Also, the Law did not include any monitoring or evaluation procedures, so it is impossible to assess the real impact of the new method of decision making. Media and cultural aspects According to Gordon, "policy models which reflect the realities of civil society are more likely to be effective than something which is imposed from the centre. (Hague, Harrop, Breslin, 1998) Depending on the approach adopted, the role of civil society representatives differs. countries has made policy weak - But China, Vietnam, and some countries have shown that the government can play a constructive role in development • 3 important trends in governance and reform: fighting corruption, implementing decentralization, and encouraging broad - based development participation. 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