Footnotes
1. Francis
Fukuyama; ÒThe End of History and the Last ManÓ; Avon Books; New York, NY;
1992; p. xxi.
2.
William Outhwaite and
Larry Ray; ÒSocial Theory and PostcommunismÓ;
Blackwell; Malden, Mass.; 2005; p. 70.
3.
Ibid., p. 73.
4.
Ibid., p. 77.
5.
Ibid., p. 80.
6.
Ibid., p. 80.
7.
Ibid., p. 80.
Grzegorz Kolodko; ÒTen Years of
Post-Socialist Transition Lessons from Policy ReformÓ; The World Bank
Development Research Group; April, 1999; p. 25.
Mr. Kolodko knows whereof he speaks. He was PolandÕs First
Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance from 1994-1997.
8. Outhwaite, p. 147.
9.
Ibid. p. 153.
This excerpts a
footnote from our essay, ÒThe French Revolution of 1789,Ó that describes the relationship
of U.S. government with civil society:
ÒThe issue of
political culture emerged in a congressional hearing looking into the Bush
AdministrationÕs firing of eight federal prosecutors. N.Y. Senator, Charles
Schumer, grilled former Justice Department Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales,
pointing out that although the prosecutors represent the legal interests of the
federal government in the states, by custom the President appoints a
local attorney from the state to administer his justice, who must later return
to the community. This custom, probably not described anywhere in the Federal
Register, checks the power of the central government in the states and
demonstrates how contemporary U.S. democracy operates, also through a subtle
set of social checks and balances.Ó
10. Ibid. p. 157.
Unfortunately, this also applies, to some degree, within the United States.
To cite another
U.S. example, a lack of investment opportunities that produce productive jobs for
many is at the core of the social problems that undermine civil society. Paul Krugman
succinctly states in the 5/4/15 NYT, "it should be obvious that
middle-class values only flourish in an economy that offers middle-class
jobs."
Situated at the intersection of government and the
citizen, liberal democracyÕs civic culture is where things happen, keeping its
society renewed and its government relevant.
11.
Kolodko, p. 4.
12.
Prospect Journal ; ÒShock
Therapy: What We Can Learn from PolandÓ; 11/11/10.
This article suggests, ÒPolandÕs economic troubles would not be solved by reforming the system, but by revolutionizing it.Ó Kolodko, however, suggests, "A market economy requires not only liberal regulation and private ownership, but also adequate institutions. For this reason, transition can be executed only in a gradual manner...The belief that a market economy can be introduced by 'shock therapy' has been wrong..." Kolodko, p. 3.
What is true
for social systems is also demonstrably true for the complex biological systems
that comprise the environment, which global warming is changing very quickily.
13.
Outhwaite, p. 63.
14.
Ibid., p. 159.
15.
Outhwaite, p. 86.
16.
Ibid., p. 80.
17. Ibid., p.p. 80-83.
We were born in
California. A professor who had immigrated to the U.S. noted to his class,
"You must choose." But it is difficult for whole societies to choose
to become compatible with the promise of globalization and modernization. To
draw a culinary analogy, societal responses to these forces can be like
scrambled eggs or a layer cake.
18.
Kolodko, p. 4.
19.
Outhwaite; p.p. 114,
130, 131.
20.
Foreign Policy; ÒPutinÕs
Assault on Civil Society ContinuesÓ; 5/9/14.
21.
Liberal democracy is a form of social organization
where order (that is government) and freedom (that is civil society) support,
rather than oppose, each other in regime of ordered freedom. Consider the
difficult histories of the developing world: Russia, China and now the Mideast.
A healthy civil society is very valuable. Thomas Friedman says that we live in
a post-colonial and post-authoritarian world where people have to learn how to
govern themselves, (with bad consequences if they donÕt).