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25 Years After Mapping Civil Society in the Visegrád Countries

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25 Years After Mapping Civil Society in the Visegrád Countries 25 Years After Mapping Civil Society in the Visegrád Countries Christian Schreier (Hg.) Work Package II, Book Publikation Effective: March 2015 Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society, Berlin Project Head: Rupert Graf Strachwitz V Contents Foreword .............................................................................................. 1 by Rupert Graf Strachwitz The ‘25-Years After’ Research Project ............................................... 3 by Christian Schreier Civil Society in Hungary ..................................................................... 9 by Máté Szabó and Eszter Márkus Civil Society in Slovakia .................................................................... 61 by Boris Strečanský Civil Society in Poland .................................................................... 111 by Anna Domaradzka Civil Society in the Czech Republic ............................................... 147 by Miroslav Pospíšil, Jiří Navrátil and Jakub Pejcal Civil Society in the Visegrád Four ................................................. 193 by Christian Schreier 25 Years After Foreword by Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Director, the Maecenata Institute From 1975, when following the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Declaration of Helsinki, was signed to ensure “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief”, clandestine movements in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslo- vakia began to challenge the political system. Within a few years, despite oppres- sion and government force, they grew into large popular movements of citizens who were no longer willing to tolerate the persistent violation of human and civil rights. In 1989 and 1990, these movements wrote history. If it hadn’t been for citizen action, for courageous men and women who congregated in churches, met in secrecy, took to the streets and encouraged others to follow, the iron curtain would not have been lifted. Arguably, this was civil society’s finest hour. 25 years later, governments all over Europe would like to see CSOs confined to service provision under government regulation, while some researchers believe civil society could only exist in a democratic society. Also, since ‘9/11’, security issues take priority, and governments tend to suspect non-governmental political action of extremism or even terrorism. At the same time, CSOs have taken on new responsibilities, as neither the welfare state nor the traditional mechanisms of government successfully face the challenges of the 21st century. Against this backdrop, one may well ask what has become of civil society in Cen- tral Europe 25 years after 1989. Committed researchers from the four countries now known as the Visegrád countries after an alliance formed in Visegrád Castle in 1991, joined the research team of the Maecenata Institute, Berlin, in conduct- ing a comparative analysis of organized civil society in these countries, and de- termine the greatest needs for its support. Existing studies were evaluated, focus groups were assembled, and experts were interviewed on specific issues. An overview of data, research findings, and publications was published in English in July 2014 (download: www.opuscula.maecenata.eu: Opusculum no. 74). Not surprisingly, it was found that after 1989, in all four countries, the number of CSOs mushroomed, while within a few years membership and political status plummeted. A divide developed between traditional organisations like the Red Cross and sports clubs on one side, and CSOs arising out of the civil rights movement on the other. 2 Foreword Today, the picture is quite diverse, both by country and by field of activity. Po- land could build on a stronger civic tradition than the Czech Republic and Hun- gary. Where service provision is the main activity, CSOs rely on government funding and are widely seen as government agencies. Where this is not the case, they face a struggle to survive. Slovak CSOs are comparatively strong in educa- tion, while community development and housing are strongest in Hungary, and culture, religion, health and social services in the Czech Republic. Activities of Polish CSOs are more evenly balanced between these areas. Clearly, capacity building is the main concern in all four countries. CSOs need help to be able to fulfil their role as watchdogs, change agents and a political force. Ongoing re- search is lacking. This sounds all too familiar! It is fair to say that as far as CSOs are concerned, the period of transition is over. 25 years after 1989, they share the aspirations, and the shortcomings and challenges of all CSOs in Europe and beyond. The Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society, Berlin, is proud to have been chosen to design and direct this mapping project. It could however never have been accomplished without the research conducted in the four coun- tries by our associates Anna Domaradzka, Eszter Márkus, Jiří Navrátil, Jakub Pejcal, Miroslav Pospíšil, Boris Strečanský, and Máté Szabó. I would like to ex- press my sincere thanks to these colleagues who have produced excellent results in a very tight time frame. Particular thanks are also due to Priska Daphi who co-designed the research frame, Christian Schreier who coordinated the project, Filip Vagac who provided pressure as well as ongoing valuable support, and Darina Doebler and Julia Peter who helped finalize this publication. For me, it was a pleasure to direct this im- portant and exciting venture. We all feel that at a time when civil society action in service production, advoca- cy, solidarity, self-help, intermediary activities, watch-dog performance, and po- litical agenda setting and deliberation has become ever more important in pro- moting societal change at European as much as at local level, research of this kind is particularly timely. The findings will, I hope encourage other colleagues to conduct more in-depth research and help present civil society as one of the vital ingredients of modern society. The ‘25-Years After’ Research Project by Christian Schreier Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, a quarter of a century has passed. Civil society, as is repeatedly stressed, has contributed much to these upheavals. Certainly, its role is also often overestimated, but today one fact is undisputed: a functioning society needs a strong civil society. In the past 25 years there have been massive changes in many respects. One central reason for this is that “business as usual” was simply no longer possible. The fundamental social changes of 1989 mark a reasonable starting point of this research project. Yet, the particular circumstances and contexts of the changes in the established social structures in each of the countries call for separate analyses. The object of investigation of this study is the situation in the Visegrad coun- tries, that is Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. These are characterized by a number of similarities, especially the pro-European orientation after the fall of the Iron Curtain. However, they have not strongly influenced each other. Each country therefore developed largely independently. Under these premises, it was a particularly interesting challenge to consider the development of Civil Society in the Visegrad 4 over the last 25 years and to gain an impression of how things stand today. A focus on civil society in its manifold forms is central to this project. This sys- tem of action is not fully explained by solely focusing on politics, the state or the market. It exceeds the familial area and is intertwined with all of the above. The terms public and self-determination play key roles in this context. A more de- tailed definition of the term Civil Society follows later. The aim of this study is to outline the development and the current status of Civil Society in the respective regions. The essays in this collected volume con- sider the development of civil society and its functions in the various countries in great detail. In co-operation with research partners in the respective countries, we, the Maecenata Foundation, designed a guide of specific research questions to be addressed that should help everyone to provide comparable data. It was im- portant not to fall into praise and not to set a too narrow focus, in order to take the specific circumstances of each country adequately into account and to ensure that new findings and results could be achieved. Finally, we have jointly devel- oped and implemented a research plan in various stages. 4 The 25 Years After Project Project Part I - Examination of state of research and resources The first stage of the project ‘25-Years After’ looked at where and what kind of research on civil society has been conducted so far, by whom and what desidera- ta remain. Relevant publications on civil society in the respective countries were examined and an overview was compiled of existing databases and other data sources as well as active centers of research, training, and policy studies. Instead of merely providing a list, we looked at how they can be evaluated in terms of scope, accurateness and depth. Finally, we considered the most crucial gaps in research and funding in the respective countries. With this annotated collection of data, we aim to provide a basis for further re- search on the development of civil society in the region. Also, we tried to show the state of the research infrastructure as it has developed over
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