Structured Response- Jared

In your readings for Thursday, you're introduced to the concept of 'civil society' and a case study of Palestinian civil society. What is civil society? What role can it play, if any, in broadening the space for political participation? What does the Palestinian case tell you about the challenges that MENA civil societies face?

"Civil society" is a collection of organizations outside of both government and the private sector, for instance, NGOs, interest groups and INGOs, that form a basis to a functioning society and advocate an array of issues. Civil society, however, influences both the private sector and the government. For instance, an environmental NGO that advocates solar energy may lobby congressmen/women in the U.S., causing the government to enact strict regulations on fossil fuels. This in turn, may economically force the private sector to invest more in solar energy, as it may get too pricey to afford the strictly regulated fossil fuel business. Another role civil society can play deals with revolutions, change of governments, and a change of society. For example, the Arab Spring Revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia succeeded largely because much of civil society cooperated with each other against the despots that ruled their countries. If civil society is divided among issues, a revolution may not succeed and there could indeed be conflict. Also, certain elements within civil society may want to change the mind set of society, whether it be from a traditional religious society to a Secular and/or Liberal society (or vice versa) or changing a society that represses women to one that allows women full rights. The Palestinian cause shows that civil societies within MENA have a tough road ahead of them- the civil society movements that have stayed non-violent have often succeeded. Palestinian civil society seems to have gained much more ground when using nonviolent methods against Israel. Civil societies in MENA will not only need to gain international support, as they did when ousting Mubarak in 2011, but will need to continue to be as organized as possible and make sure not to use violent methods, which will only create an excuse for oppressors to use violence against innocents and will most likely lose their international support.