Civil Society

Civil society organizations represent either specific groups or specific issues and serve as an excellent conduit of information between those groups and the government or as a source of information about the issues on which civil society groups concentrate.  The better informed parliamentarians are on the issues, the better they will be able to respond and ensure the actions of parliament contribute to peacebuilding rather than to fuelling cleavages already present in the community.  Civil society should act as a reservoir of knowledge on the topics on which parliament deliberates and can be drawn on by parliamentarians to assist them in their role.  On the flipside, parliament can use the same channels of communication to explain to the community the reasons behind parliament’s action or inaction on certain issues.  The community will only be willing to accept the stance taken by parliament on certain issues if they understand the reasons why parliament acted the way it did. The greater the acceptance in the community of the stance adopted by parliament on different issues, the less likely those issues will act as a catalyst for conflict.   

In addition to their ability to facilitate information flow, civil society often comprises traditional institutions of authority, for instance, trade unions and professional associations; therefore civil society can contribute to the peacebuilding process by assisting with dialogue and cooperation in inter-community relations.  Parliament can seek to enlist the support of institutions of authority in the community to build consensus and contribute to peace-building.

Civil society organizations are usually demand-driven in that they form to represent the interests or provide services to groups within society who have specific interests that are not otherwise being addressed.  In this way they help give voice to those who may not be able to be directly represented in parliament, thereby facilitating greater participation by the populace in governance.  For this reason civil society has an important role to play in making society and decision-making more inclusive.  However, inclusiveness does not automatically contribute to peacebuilding; parliamentarians should not only recognize that civil society facilitates greater inclusion, but should be responsive to the interests of those groups in the community that are being represented by civil society organizations.  If parliament works toward having previously unrepresented groups’ interests met there is less of a likelihood that a point of friction will escalate to violent conflict.