Relationship Between Civil Society and State of an Australian Public Sphere Essay

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The Public Sphere is a “realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed” (Habermas, 2001, p. 49). In a public sphere, the citizens must be able to confer unrestrictedly. There must be freedom of meeting and associating in this sphere. There must also be freedom of expression and the opportunity to publish opinions about matters of common interest. If the sphere is large, specific means may be required to transmit information and influence the receivers. Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the Internet are the media of this literary sphere. The political public sphere is one that allows discussion of political matters (Habermas, 2001, p. 49). The state cannot be a part of it even though it is the public authority that executes it and is interested in caring for the citizens. Only if the government exercises a democratic approach can this political public sphere become efficient and have an influence over the government. Public opinion is important to the government

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which accepts all criticisms in the same manner. This is organized by the public according to the principle of the public sphere. Public spheres have been known to exist in kingdoms and religious bodies (Habermas, 2001, p. 50). The bourgeois public sphere had private individuals.

The liberalized model of the public sphere was a sphere of private individuals who allowed a few of the public to give their opinions. Literary journalism saw the literary public spheres.

The Public sphere for Social Welfare State Mass Democracy is actually a political public sphere where social organizations participate. Opinions are to be shared with the political participants.

Previously, making proceedings public was with the intention of making people accountable.

However, now the publicity is for the public prestige of the participants. The public sphere is weakening as the fundamental rights of citizens are increasing in the social welfare state (Habermas, 2001, p. 55).

The State

The State is a state power that possesses internal and external sovereignty at the spatial level over a clearly delimited terrain (the state territory) and at the social level over the totality of members (the body of citizens or people). The two components are “yoked” together (Habermas, 1998, p. 107). A state is sovereign if it can keep law and order and protect its borders against external attacks. The modernization process is the separation of the state from civil society.

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The evolution and development of the Australian architecture Australia is just like the US when one speaks of the “society of settlers”. The British crown called it the land of unowned territory (Cox, 2002, p. 333). The indigenous people were not allowed to own land. The Federation with a civil process began in 1901 without any preceding war for independence or a civil war. The diverse populations have through their collective efforts, incentives, and skills given rise to the formation of democracy. The social structure of Australia had trade unions and religious organizations which contributed to the social capital. Relationship between the formal and informal groups of the community added to the social fabric (Cox, 2002, p. 333). The twentieth century saw several wars in a foreign land, the Great Depression, episodes of immigration, and incidents of racism. The chief arm of the government, the Federal House of the Representatives, is elected from the local electorates while the Federal Senate is elected from the states following a republican model similar to the US.

Most of the states have two houses of Parliament. Voting is compulsory. Without the backing, of the rich aristocracy as in Britain or large private fortunes as in the US, Australia solely depended on public funds for its settlement and infrastructure. This meant that this country depended greatly on politics and the government for its diverse wants (Cox, 2002, p.334). Minimum wages and work conditions were set up in 1907. Old-age pensions were instituted in 1901 and women could vote from 1902. Widows’ pensions have been in force since 1926. Political parties, community, church groups expect the government to initiate reforms.

The Depression of the 1930s affected Australia too. The economy was bad till the Second World War was over in 1949. The social welfare system helped overcome unemployment and social division. Reconstruction led Australia to an economic boom as in other developed countries. Australia became a much sought-after land for migrants (Cox, 2002, p.334). This lucky country continued thus till the 1970s.

The thought of being underpopulated led Australia to a major immigration policy. The population grew and 7 million of the population could be attributed to the immigrants, their children, and grandchildren. They came from Britain and other Northern European countries.

In 1997, 16 % of Australia had come from non-English speaking nations and only 2% were indigenous. These immigrants were mostly in the manufacturing industry and building infrastructure. The question arose whether to continue immigration after the manufacturing and infrastructure-building need diminished (Cox, 2002, p. 334). Public spending was reduced and market deregulation was instituted. The Australian Labour Party was in rule from 1983 to 1996.

They depended on the union movements. The opinion polls demonstrated the peoples’ distrust of trade unions and political parties. This triggered more action in human rights cases.

The new coalition government in 1996 was conservative and believed in a neoclassical economy. Divisions were seen between the rich and the less rich. Now a better relationship is being developed with the indigenous people. Democracy is affected by increasing political distrust (Cox, 2002, p. 334).

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Australia shows no distinctions between state and community or public and private. The civic will is represented by the government. Public service units represented the weaker sections of the women, indigenous people, and immigrants with the aim to represent the minorities. These special units have contributed to multiculturalism (Cox, 2002,p.336). The sentiments against racism and sexism and the work against HIV/AIDS among the gay have resulted from their efforts. The voters have now become volatile and racism is growing. Education is better, income is higher and material goods can be accessed better. However, the overall quality of the social, economical, and environmental trends may be diminishing. Only 13 % thought life was good. There is unease about the future and resistance to change. Social relationships and involvements are showing a different trend (Cox, 2002, p. 337).

Increasing inequality may be the reason for distrust and lesser involvement in the community. Financial or other stressors could reduce social contact outside the immediate circle. Less self-confidence and the inability to socialize may be the outcome. Many non-government groups are professionals as their services are now in demand (Cox, 2002, p. 355). Political processes also require professionalism. Senior ranks are inaccessible. All these make people segregated into smaller groups that remain without socializing or communicating with others.

Sharing pubic space for sports, leisure and cultural activities is a trend. However, user-pay services for parks, museums, sports arenas, and other once-free facilities do not attract many visitors. These could have been the places of much social cohesion. It remains to be seen whether the social capital is really built into the public sphere. The loss of these spaces could actually make contact impossible (Cox, 2002, p. 356). The media has a role in the involvement of people in the civil processes. Data do not indicate for definite whether social capital is declining or stable or growing (Cox, 2002, p. 356). Voting indications point out the tendency of rural and outer urban voters to reject the major political parties. Economic changes have hurt people. Perceived loss of social cohesion is related to distrust. Many households have only one member and the social interaction becomes lesser. However many are turning out for community festivals, environment repairs, and other inter-communal activities. Policymakers are concentrating on making social capital a major issue in their mission statements (Cox, 2002, p. 358).

Globalization has recognized the problems of social fragmentation and exclusion (Everingham, 2001, p. 105). Reconstituting the community may be a solution to the problems.

The current official social policy intends to bring into the fold those who have been distanced through the years of marginalization. Those who cannot keep up with increasing standards of success get excluded. Lasting sympathy is not afforded, anyone. The bias towards social order is evidenced by the growing disparities in wealth and the lack of sentiments towards the disadvantaged.

The loss of community is now a political topic of discussion (Everingham, 2001, p. 106). Social breakdowns of different sorts in the family, law, and order, authority, and trust are being discussed with the intent of the need for a social glue. More rural situations have indicated the loss of banks, post offices, community places, and young people to suicides and movement to the cities. Community is the subject of all problems and politics of the government. Communities are built around the beneficiaries of welfare assistance. These organizations became responsible for the reforms. The objective was to allow them more control over their own decisions directly affecting their own services. An alternative was community management. They were inspired to participate in their own management of services. Clients were thus empowered through self-help.

Everingham, 2001, p.107). A community that became the main agent for health and welfare reform also became the site of political dispute. Social justice proponents found new needs for the community and thereby new grounds for lobbying for improved services from the government. The policies came under attack due to the struggles involved. Community development programs brought together people with common needs for mutual support. The people who benefit from government welfare and services are considered a group that has been marginalized from the “fruits of globalization” (Everingham, 2001, p. 107). Workfare programs are being carried out to shape the unemployed person’s character. Their work habits are bettered and their work skills updated. The community-based organizations were inspired by the social movements of the 1960s which included the movements of personal liberation, women’s liberation, sexual liberation, and civil rights. Twenty years of reforms have created community-based organizations which are knowledgeable enough to criticize the government now. They believed that their role consisted of being a watchdog for the disadvantaged or the downtrodden (Everingham, 2001, p. 108). The government considers the new ‘community as just a resource that the government can use or as a partner in Howard’s administration. The community refers to a spatial location between the state and the society. Whitlam in 1972 believed that people would be better served by the social wage or the public provision of goods and services, the management of both by state intervention. Economic rationalism was a new term coined at this point in time (Everingham, 2001, p. 109). It was the dominant Keynesian policy whereby the economy is managed in a rational manner. The cyclical changes in the market were to be controlled through the promotion of investments. The government would expand the welfare system. Investments would increase the number of jobs which in turn would increase the demand for consumer goods. Howard reduced the meaning of community to the religious organizations in his social coalition which was suitable enough to win government contracts (Everingham, 2001, p.109). One in seven working Australians is on welfare so more people are convinced about the need for welfare. Opponents have condemned the loss of community by indicating that it is the core values that reinforce the community’s moral fabric that is lost.

The term community has since taken a new mid-way meaning or third meaning. This community is a tool of the government which connects the left and right. It is a neutral meeting place for all parties to discuss social issues and the state is one party. The rules are still made by the government (Everingham, 2001, p. 111). The attributes that are prevalent and become dominant in a society depend on the social relations in that society. They are the attributes that help those who plan to succeed in the increasingly competitive world and trigger self-reliance and individual enterprise. This social policy reform changes the role of government from provider to facilitator (Everingham, 2001, p. 118). The new paternalistic attitude of the government allowed the community to help cultivate the proper motivations and social habits in the beneficiaries. The politics of community has a paradox in that the values of self-reliance and individual enterprise become more precious when the attributes connecting us to others slowly change (Everingham, 2001, p. 119).

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The years of working for the indigenous people of Australia have not produced justice or acceptance for them (Dodson, 2004, p. 119). Howard’s prime ministership of years refused to acknowledge the real owners of the land. Reconciliation and settlement for injustices have been denied them. He probably nursed a disrespect for them. Divisions were made more marked according to race and ethnicity. His harsh words in a Menzies Lecture have spoken of a “disgraceful story of imperialism, exploitation, sexism and other forms of discrimination” (Dodson, 2004, p. 120). The interests of indigenous Australians have now become more important than those of the mainstream people. Accusations have been made that Howard has sacrificed the interests of the indigenous for those of the mainstream (Dodson, 2004, p. 121).

National cohesion should mean that the diverse peoples including the indigenous are to be socially brought together to live as one people. The government is actually existing for upholding the values and aspirations of the mainstream people who are not the real people of Australia (Dodson, 2004, p.1 21).

The Woes

Indigenous people suffer the violation of human rights more than anybody else. They are 26 times more likely to be arrested, harassed, and beaten up in the cell. The chances of getting a longer and severe sentence for a crime are 10 times more than the chances of the white counterpart. The life expectancy is 20 years less than the other Australians. The indigenous are 50% more likely to commit suicide than the white. Children are 3 times more likely to die in infancy (Dodson, 2004, p. 122). Women in childbirth could die at 4-5 times the likelihood in the other Australians. The children who live after 4 months could even have more chances of hearing disability. The chances of the children going to school are less and this goes for employment opportunities too. The court has accepted co-existing rights to pastoral land (Wik people Vs State of Queensland). The indigenous people accepted the decision with honor. They hope that the Native Title Act of 1993 would be nondiscriminatory (Dodson, 2004, p. 123). Dodson asserts that the Government should have taken pains to bring the people together, educate the nation and reassure the other Australians about their native rights and not scare them off. The Howard government instead resorted to the Ten-point plan which was the exact opposite of the manner that Keating assumed to draw up the Native Title Act in 1993.

The Native Title Amendment Bill of 1997 had the translations of Howard’s plan. The native lost his right by the Act of1993. Pastoralists had their rights increased (Dodson, 2004, p.124). There was a reduction in the right to negotiate. A registration test was imposed for the right to negotiate. The objectives of the Native Title Act of 1993 have been defeated. Many provisions were not in conformation with the recommendations of the United Nations on racial discrimination. The natives do not have any functioning representatives to fight for them. The Court also failed to help.

In 1995, an inquiry was conducted into the previous injustices done to the indigenous people like the separation of children from their families by compulsion. The report called “Bringing them home” had over 50 recommendations. The report caused a sensation (Dodson, 2004, p. 127). The children were taken away so that they could be brought up in the Western culture model and lose their inherent and unique cultural values. Racial discrimination was evident. The Howard government responded that the present generation could not be answerable for actions of the earlier generations (Dodson, 2004, p. 128). Even an apology was denied in the fear that compensations may have to be paid. The removal of the children has disturbed the descent of the identity, languages, culture, and spiritual beliefs. The Australian government separated the children from the parents and the indigenous from the rest of Australia according to Dodson (2004, p. 133). The Aboriginal Reconciliation Act was made in 1991 to promote the relationship of the indigenous people with the other Australians. Reforms in housing, health, and employment were to be focused on to account for the previous failures. The People’s Walk for Reconciliation in 2000 across Sydney Harbour Bridge was a very large public demonstration for this cause. Annual repetitions in different parts are going on.

Fundamentalism in Australia?

Hage has written on the unleashing of fundamentalism by none other than John Howard, the Prime Minister. Fundamentalism stirs up images of Muslim fundamentalism, wild Orthodox Jews, and Christian fundamentalists (Hage, 2003, p. 69). Australian values have been described frequently by Howard. He has elaborated on the ethnic diversity of Australia which gives Australia it’s unique standing in this world. The values are persistence, mateship, voluntary effort, and optimism(p. 70). The strength of the Jewish community has contributed to the “primacy of family life and its importance in building strong and endearing communities and the value for the enterprise, the work ethic and reward for effort and the recognition of the obligation to give back the benefit that has been received”. At the Reconciliation Summit, he spoke of the values for decency, tolerance, and fairness. Students received the message on the tradition of treating people fairly on the basis of their contribution to society. Australia had values of tolerance and harmony.

Howard believes that Australia is a projection of Western civilization (p. 72). Hage considers that Australia has no cultural values to speak of in the first place and that Howard has not understood fully his own words.

Recent Events in the Australian Public Spher

The discussion topics that have been within the focus of the Australian public sphere within the last five years include “9/11, the Bali Bombing, the Tampa and the Children Overboard affair, the Cronulla Riots, as well as the numbers of refugees approaching Australian shores” (Mummery, 2007, p. 347). Public discourses have been talking about “protective” or “humanitarianism”. The debate has again touched on the subject of what it means to be Australian. Letters to the editor in “The Australian” and “The West Australian” for about a month carried many peoples’ ideas about the current topics. Australians had various responses to the issue of detaining and the processing of refugees and their eventual release into Australia.

Name-calling and vilification are part of the game. However, this can be streamlined by setting out the various opinions in the form of articulation. Media theorists, analysts, and politicians are of the opinion that the role and responsibility of the media are more than just meeting the market requirements and media users are more than consumers (Raboy et al., 2001 ). A social role exists between the media and everyday life discourses. The media can instill a sense of community (Mummery and Rodan, 2007, p. 349). Letters to the editor actually represent the public debate. The media allows for the development of public opinion. Many writers see this as a public forum and as a creation of social solidarity (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2002a, p. 130 and 304).

This is also an exhibition of being Australian. Many believe that they are speaking for many in giving their opinion. The protective approach is becoming common after September 11. Refugees are not to be allowed to stay by this view. In Tampa, illegal immigrants are described as criminals. Humanitarianism is the other opposing approach of saying “let them stay, they are after all human beings who need our help”. Australia’s policies have been described by some as dehumanizing and demonizing (Mummery and Rodan, 2007, p. 353).

References

  1. Cox, E. (2002). “ Australia :Making the lucky country”. Chapter 8 in “Democracies in Flux: The evolution in social capital in contemporary society”. Eds. Robert D.Putnam Oxford University Press
  2. Dodson, M. (2004). “Indigenous Australians” in “The Howard Years” (Eds) Robert Manne
  3. Everingham, C. (2001). “Reconstituting community: Social justice, social order and the politics of community”. Australian Journal of Social issues, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2001
  4. Habermas, J. (2001). “The Public Sphere,: An encyclopaedia”. The New German Ctritique.
  5. Hage, G. (2003). “ The rise of Australian fundamentalism: reflections on the rule of Ayatollah Johnny” in Chapter 5 (Eds.) Against paranoid nationalism”, Pluto Press ,Australia
  6. Mummery, J. and Rodan, D. (2007). “Discursive Australia: Refugees, Australianness, and the Australian Public Sphere”. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies Vol. 21, No. 3, 2007, pp. 347–360
  7. Raboy, M., Abramson, B. D., Proulx, S. & Welters, R. (2001) ‘Media policy, audiences, and social demand: research at the interface of policy studies and audience studies’, Television & New Media, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 95–115.
  8. Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2002a) ‘The normative–economic justification for public discourse: letters to the editor as a “wide open” forum’, Journalism &Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 121–133.
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IvyPanda. 2021. "Relationship Between Civil Society and State of an Australian Public Sphere." October 27, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/relationship-between-civil-society-and-state-of-an-australian-public-sphere/.

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