STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY RELATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF DEMOCRACY

Abstract

The concept of civil society has come to the fore in a modern sense all over the world in the 1980s as a non-profit, autonomous, voluntary and pluralistic structure outside the state. In this context, it began to be discussed in Turkey after the second half of the 1980s and has gained importance gradually in the 1990s. Both the civil society and the state as a political space will become more meaningful when considered in a manner associated with the concept of democracy. This is because, democracy is the decisive factor in the state-civil society relations. As the political power of the state acting on the basis democracy develops civil society, the civil society also nourishes the democratic structure of the state. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the state-civil society relations in terms of democracy as well as discussing the relationships between civil society-democracy and state-democracy on the basis of mutual interaction.
The functioning of the state-civil society relationship on a democratic and legal level will make the state more pluralistic and transparent, keeping arbitrary administration away. The involvement of civil society in the social decisions made by the state will strengthen the state-civil society relations and reinforce the legitimacy of political power in turn. It appears that there are various problems in the state-civil society relations, originating from both the state, the civil society and the political culture. Particularly, in the states where the democracy is adopted completely in the civil societies lacking a democratic characteristic, these problems seem to increase even more. Yet, it is important that the state and civil society have an interacting and cooperating structure, rather than opposing and conflicting with each other.