ISTR Fifth International Conference Cape Town, South Africa / July 7-10, 2002 Transforming Civil Society, Citizenship and Governance: The Third Sector in an Era of Global (Dis)Order

Govert J. Buijs email

Many discussions on the theme of the 'Third Sector' or on 'civil society' focus on institutions (primarily all kind of associations), their behavior and the relations between them. Relatively less attention is given to the question what actually motivates people to found certain institutions or to get involved in them, to become an 'activist'.

The presence and proliferation of this 'activist' type of action is not constant in all societies and in all periods. The emergence of a Third Sector therefore is perhaps to a certain extent a product of cultural circumstances. One of these circumstances regards the availability of 'sources of inspiration' for the type of action that brings forth a Third Sector.

In this paper it is argued that at least part of the explanation for this 'activist' attitude is to be sought in what the social philosopher Charles Taylor has called the 'moral horizon' of a certain culture. This horizon can be described as the scale of dominant values within a society. It is shaped by the moral stories, moral intuitions and explicit moral guidelines, that are passed on in a certain society or a culture and that inspire or, as Taylor calls it, 'empower' people to lead a certain kind of l ife. These notions in their turn are often rooted in deep intuitions about the world and about the meaning of life in the world - and thus the 'moral horizon' touches on the realm of the religious. The notion of 'moral horizons' draws attention not primar ily to the individual motivation of people (e.g. the egoistic-altruistic dilemma) but to the more general cultural background, that might partly make understandable differences in size and in shape of the Third Sector. 'To love one's neighbor' (the Christ ian caritas) for example is not one of the classical (Platonic or Aristotelian) virtues but it now has become a rule that is somehow engrained in the moral horizon though people might not regard themselves as Christian.

In the paper some basic elements of a moral horizon will be identified that can support the development of a Third Sector:

• an awareness that (all kind of situations in) the world are not just what they are but are somehow susceptible to humanly induced change: meaningful action is possible.
• an awareness that not society at large or the state is responsible for taking action, but that it is I or We as a group (empowerment)
• an awareness that the 'object' of my or our responsible caring action is not a priori limited to the persons to which I am attached through family-relations or to my or our own habitat: a more or less universal orientation (that does not preclude ver y local and concrete action).

The paper will concentrate on different historical phases of Western culture. In the classical Greek and Roman setting we find the concepts of philantropeia, leitourgia and humanitas. In the Christian tradition there is the key concept of caritas and (mos t salient in the Protestant branch of that tradition) the concept of vocation. And of course the story of 'the Good Samaritan' is one of the narrative sources of inspiration in this tradition.

At a later stage of the research project other cultural traditions and other religions will be drawn into the comparison. A brief outline of this further research will be presented in the paper.

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