can say that the theory of the state and civil society to interact with each other, appeared before the emergence of the term.The first "noticed" the elements of the social system, Plato, highlighting them as a separate substance policy.He gave these components fundamental to his theory of the "ideal state".Aristotle, developing postulate that man - a zoon politikon, ie existing social and political, came to the conclusion that the state is a natural product of the political aspirations of the citizens, however, there are areas - economic, marital and family, spiritual - where the state has noright to intrude.Aristotle noted that the property and the middle class, both have their own, are the basis for the stability of human society.
great contribution to the development of the theory of how should interact with each other state and civil society, brought Italian writer Niccolo Machiavelli.It gives the state political power, which does not always go hand in hand with morality.Statesmen, acting for political purposes, and should not be abused to violate the property and personal rights of citizens, in order not to stir up hatred against society itself.Thus, Machiavelli formulated the first and most important tenet of civil society - it is something independent, something that lives by its own laws which are not subject to the state.
Considering how the associated state and civil society, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes proclaims the primacy of the last before the state, and the first to introduce that term in the scientific revolution.The founder of liberalism, John Locke, Hobbes developed a theory about the primacy of civil society, and concluded that the state arises only when the society matured this need.Therefore, Locke develops his idea, there were times when there was no state (because there was no need for it), and the time will come when society will no longer need it.In formulating the definition of such a society, Locke calls it the main dominant equality of all its members before the law.
Montesquieu considers the state and civil society as two mutually contending structure, and claims that the latter is an essential safeguard against dictatorship and arbitrariness of the authorities.Jean-Jacques Rousseau goes still further and recognizes the right of members of a society to overthrow the government.Left-wing thinkers XIX-XX century - Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, other modern philosophers and political scientists - complement and deepen the knowledge of mankind about the role of civil society in public life.Dictatorships and coups modernity seem paradoxical connection between these two social phenomena: the nature of being rivals, they support and balance each other, balancing between such maxims as absolute totalitarianism and general anarchy.
Paradoxically, the fact is that the basic institutions of civil society, such as the various political parties, independent media, human rights organizations, only enhance the normal functioning of political power and performance of its duties.On the one hand, these institutions seek to control the powers that be, to limit their impact on the daily lives of citizens.This leads to the fact that the state has to establish laws that guarantee the rights of ordinary people and freedom, as a result of which the common people have the opportunity to influence the government, its decisions.Prosperous and developed Western modern society - is the result of consensus, active civil society institutions with public authorities.While the totalitarian - and shaky, as shown by the "Arab Spring" - are always in a state of open or secret war with the independent unions seeking to exercise control functions.And as "a bad peace is always better than a good war", sealed the fate of these regimes.
