Civic society: for whom and for what?
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Association of National Cultural Societies
The attitude that only they know what the needs of society are is prevalent among Estonian political parties. As a result, the state has not included citizens in finding solutions for the problems facing society – and civic society has been left almost completely in the domain of foreign capital and advisers.
This sort of attitude is reflected in the civic society development concept approved by the Riigikogu in December 2002 – more of a collection of good intentions than a concept. But it does contain one important point: to form a joint commission of government and civic leaders to launch a system for preparing, implementing and evaluating the conception. This will make it possible for larger civic unions to start developing cooperation with government representatives and focusing attention on eliminating bottlenecks in the growth of a civic society.