Volume IV, Issue II (April 2006) - Columbus School of Law

In the Asian context, particularly, there has been added to the mix of defining what is and what isnot civil society the further debate of whether civil society is a purely ‘Western’ concept thatsimply is alien to Asian cultures. While the multifarious arguments contributed by varioustheorists to this ‘Asian debate’ are beyond the scope of this article, it appears that -- regardless ofwhichever abstract historical, political, or cultural theories one proffers -- the contemporaryreality is that there is a strong and thriving civil society today in Asia. Indeed, in a recent andextensive study of Asian civil society, 16 the authors provide ample evidence of both the presenceand dramatic growth of civil society organizations in Asia, especially during the past twodecades, even though ‘their breadth, depth, and density have varied over time and acrosscountries.’ 17As with civil society elsewhere, civil society in Asia is ‘social-reality-specific.’ 18 That is, civilsociety in Asian countries has developed in response to numerous and varied factors, rangingfrom colonial domination and subsequent authoritarian governments, to the growth of capitalismand democratic transition, to increased international support and even increased domesticgovernment support. 19 In his extensive survey of the nature and development of Asian civilsociety, Mutiah Alagappa further particularizes these factors asanticolonial mobilization, weakness of states, resistance to repressive rule, governmentsponsorship of organizations, increase in democratic space, economic growth anddevelopment, the information and communication revolutions, change in internationalnormative structure, and growing international support. 20Owing in part to these varied factors which have spurred their development and growth, civilsociety organizations in Asia are ‘highly diverse in composition, resource endowment, andgoals.’ 21 There is a wide range of actors in Asian civil society, existing in virtually every aspectof Asian life, employment, and government – with an accompanying wide range of politicalorientation. 22 As a result, as noted by Alagappa, ‘struggle [is] a central feature of Asian civilsocieties,’ caused by the inequalities and wide disparities among these organizations, especiallyas catalyzed by the ‘totalizing goals’ of some civil society organizations. 23 Especially in Asia,certain civil society organizations ‘view civil society as a terrain for waging their battles againstother segments of society and against the state.’ 24Inherent legal/regulatory constraints by the state, as illustrated by the regulatory framework forawqaf in Pakistan discussed later in this article, also characterize civil society in Asia. Alagappa,for example, observes that16 Mutiah Alagappa (ed), Civil Society and Political Change in Asia (2004).17 Mutiah Alagappa, ‘The Nonstate Public Sphere in Asia’ in Mutiah Alagappa (ed), Civil Society andPolitical Change in Asia (2004) 457.18 Ibid 456.19 Ibid 456-57.20 Ibid 459.21 Ibid 464.22 Ibid 465.23 Ibid. Alagappa carefully cautions against treating Asian civil societies as a single, coherent entity -- oreven a homogenous or static group – and he does note that in some areas the ‘zero-sum struggles give wayto competition, cooperation, and compromise’: at 467.24 Ibid 465.10