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Downloadable in Pdf[1.0MB] An Assessment of Scottish Civil Society (2006) A STRONG VALUE-DRIVEN BUT FRAGMENTED CIVIL SOCIETY IS GAINING CONFIDENCE IN A POST-DEVOLUTION SCOTLAND CIVICUS CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX REPORT FOR SCOTLAND Ruchir Shah Edinburgh 2006 Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) CIVICUS Civil Society Index An international action-research project coordinated by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation 1 FOREWORD This report, on civil society in contemporary Scotland, stands within a remarkable history of critical self-reflection on civic life. In 1767 the Scottish Enlightenment thinker Adam Ferguson published An Essay on the History of Civil Society which offered far-sighted comment on the impact of a rising commercial economy on traditional societies like Scotland. Pioneering social surveys like the Statistical Accounts of Scotland in the late 18th and early 19th centuries also mapped the ways in which Scottish civic institutions were responding to industrialization. And now, as Scotland becomes part of a global economy, this latest Assessment of Scottish Civil Society brings that long line of civic analysis into the 21st century. It presents evidence of a strong civil society rooted in shared values. This has led to the growing solidarity and confident campaigning of Scottish civic networks in the common cause of human and environmental flourishing. But the report also speaks honestly of the weaknesses of Scottish civic institutions in their dependence on state funding and variable openness to all social backgrounds. It is significant that this report is part of a world-wide comparative study. I welcome it and commend it for making an informed Scottish contribution to one of the great endeavours of our time, the emergence of a truly global civil society. William Storrar Director, Center of Theological Inquiry Princeton University CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Scotland 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SCVO would like to acknowledge the pivotal contributions made by members of the National Advisory Group: Rami Ousta, Tanveer Parnez, Charlie McConnell, Rona Beattie, Jane Salmonson, Sian Kiely, Pat Dawson, Debbie Wilkie, Gerard Hill, Roland Diggens, Maureen Sier, John Park, Douglas Murray, Simon Jaquet and Stephen Maxwell. We also acknowledge the advice and support provided by the Four Nations Voluntary Sector Research Group: Gordon McCullough and JJ McCarron (NICVA), Marion Lacey, Philippa Bonella, Katherine Duncan, and Lucy McTernan (SCVO), Bryan Collis (WCVA), Karl Wilding and Veronique Jochum (NCVO). We would like to acknowledge the financial support from Carnegie UK and the work by Simon Jaquet and Alan Small in bringing the views of disenfranchised members of Scottish society into this assessment. We would also like to thank Dr Cecilia Clegg, Edinburgh University in providing us with a venue, recommendation and support in launching our interim assessment at their conference, ‘A World for All, Ethics in Global Civil Society’. Special thanks also to Stephen Maxwell and Kanykey Jailobaeva for their contributions to the ‘historical overview of civil society’ section, and to Professor Will Storrar for reviewing the report. Finally, we would like to thank Volkhart Finn Heinrich, Mahi Khallaf and Kumi Naidoo from CIVICUS for their support to SCVO in our efforts to roll out the Civil Society Index (CSI) in Scotland and generate interest in a pan-civil society research project. Ruchir Shah Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Scotland 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................ 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................... 3 TABLES AND FIGURES.............................................................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................................. 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 6 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 I THE CSI PROJECT: BACKGROUND & METHODOLOGY.....................................................................11 1. PROJECT BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................11 2. PROJECT APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................12 II CIVIL SOCIETY IN SCOTLAND................................................................................................................17 1. SPECIAL FEATURES OF SCOTTISH CIVIL SOCIETY ...........................................................................................17 2. THE CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN SCOTLAND .............................................................................................21 3. MAPPING CIVIL SOCIETY IN SCOTLAND ..........................................................................................................22 III ANALYSIS OF CIVIL SOCIETY ................................................................................................................25 1. STRUCTURE ....................................................................................................................................................25 1.1. The Extent of Citizen Participation in Civil Society..............................................................................26 1.2. Depth of Citizen Participation in Civil Society......................................................................................27 1.3. Diversity of Civil Society Participants...................................................................................................27 1.4. Level of Organisation.............................................................................................................................28 1.5. Inter-Relations within Civil Society.......................................................................................................30 1.6. Civil Society Resources .........................................................................................................................31 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................32 2. ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................................................34 2.1. Political context......................................................................................................................................34 2.2. Basic Rights and Freedoms....................................................................................................................36 2.3. Socio-Economic Context........................................................................................................................38 2.4. Socio-Cultural Context...........................................................................................................................39 2.5. Legal Environment.................................................................................................................................40 2.6. State-Civil Society Relations .................................................................................................................41 2.7. Private Sector-Civil Society Relations ...................................................................................................42 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................43 3. VALUES ..........................................................................................................................................................45 3.1. Democracy .............................................................................................................................................45 3.2. Transparency..........................................................................................................................................46 3.3. Tolerance................................................................................................................................................47 3.4. Non-violence..........................................................................................................................................48 3.5. Gender Equity ........................................................................................................................................48 3.6. Poverty Eradication................................................................................................................................49 3.7. Environmental Sustainability.................................................................................................................50
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