I have mentioned before how Bertie Ahern wants to foster a culture of "active citizenship". Last week he appointed a new Task Force to "to identify and understand how public policy helps and hinders active engagement". In a speech last week the Taoiseach declared:
Citizenship cannot be delegated or outsourced. Citizenship comes with duties as well as rights. Being a citizen of this Republic means being tolerant, being respectful of the views of others, having a real civic responsibility and being welcoming to the new Irish who are coming to make their home here.
Laudable stuff, surely nobody could take issue with this? Vincent Browne does and he is right. His key point is that if the idea of active citizenship refers exclusively to engagement in voluntary and community work we, as citizens in a republic, are diverted from exercising our sovereign power in running the affairs of state. Implicit in Brown's argument is the fundamental distinction between the state and civil society. Ahern's attempt to recreate the old volunteer spirit is notable for its exclusive emphasis on activities within civil society. In an interview with Gerry Kelly on UTV last month the Taoiseach cited his parents as having a profound influence on him as a result of their community activism - in the GAA, residents' associations and, above all, Fianna Fáil. The latter has always portrayed itself as a "great national movement of the Irish people" and always refers to itself, outside side of the Oireachtas, as the Fianna Fáil organisation. Thus Fianna Fáil is no mere party, a factional entity, but an organic embodiment of the collective will of the Irish people. At least that's how it tries to portray itself...
But I digress. We live in a republic and a core element of republicanism is the belief in the capacity of people to exercise self-government. Browne argues that we do indeed need active citizenship and the way to do this is to deepen our democracy by involving the sovereign power (ie. we, the people) in a much more meaningful way.
Democracy has been undermined by outsourcing democratic decision-making to a political class with citizens being involved only once in every five years - and then merely to give a yes or no to a rag-bag of parties and a rag-bag of policies. In no way could it be said that in our democracy there is anything approaching real citizenship.
Bertie Ahern's vision would further outsource the activity of citizens towards the sphere of civil society and away from that of the state. Furthermore it's an attempt, conscious or not, to limit the scope of the activities of the state in terms of what it can or should do, whether this is in the realm of healthcare, education, the relief of poverty, caring for people with disabilities or raising money for the alleviation of distress at home or abroad. This is definitely more Boston than Berlin. Browne's argument recites some very basic points of political philosophy:
The State is the creation of citizens, who come together for collective security and agree to be bound to the rules of the State provided these rules are founded on principles on which all citizens can agree (why else should we obey the State?). Such principles must surely include the fair distribution of wealth, resources and opportunities. Of course such wealth, resources and opportunities are always "limited", but that does not frustrate the fair distribution of whatever limited wealth, resources and opportunities there are.
The question of where you draw the line between the spheres of the state and civil society is not just a matter for political philosophy tutorials. It's a fundamentally important political issue and one that needs to be aired. The Progressive Democrats want to shrink the state and its recent reiteration of low taxation policies confirms this. Labour is a typical interventionist European social democratic party. Fianna Fáil tend to position themselves rhetorically in the social democratic mode but could take us in a different direction. All the more reason for vigilance and not to be swayed by fine sentiments about the volunteer spirit.
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