Nazarbekoba Z.M.

A. Baitursynov Kostanai State University, Kazakhstan

The state and civil society

The New time (the XVI-XIX centuries), begun the second stage of development of political science, significantly changed both forms, and rates of formation of the political theory. The complication of the political sphere, which was gradually revealing dependence of the government from area of private human life, promoted its understanding as certain social sphere with the specific bases and mechanisms. The Italian thinker N. Machiavelli as the first made this break, having divided ideas of politics and society. Having entered into a scientific lexicon the term stato, he treated it not as display of the concrete state, and as in a special way organized form of the power. In the spirit of such approach J. Bodin raised a question of development of the methodical bases of special political science. The enormous contribution to development of this branch of knowledge was made by T. Gobbs, J. Lock, J.J. Rousseau, Ch. Montesquieu, D. Mill, J. Bentham, A. Tocqueville, K. Marx and some other outstanding thinkers developing ideas of rationalism, freedom, equality of citizens.

The state is traditionally considered as the main institute of the political system. The characteristic of the state includes the following criteria:

1. Social appointment.

2. Organizational structure.

3. Specific opportunities, the rights and powers in comparison with other institutes.

4. Character of the relations with society, classes, and nation.

The state differs from other social organizations on existence of the following signs:

· existence of special group of the people occupied only with management of society and protection of its economic and social structure

· monopoly for the exclusive power concerning the population

· the right and possibility of implementation of domestic and foreign politics – economic, social, military

· the sovereign right of the publication of laws and rules, obligatory for the population

· the power organization on a certain territorial sign

· monopoly on collection of taxes and collecting from the population on formation of the national budget and others.

The idea of civil society goes back to political and legal thought of antiquity. This concept acts as a synonym of concept "political society", i.e. "state". To be the member of society it means to be the citizen – the member of the state. It obliged to work according to the state laws, without doing harm to other citizens. Such state of affairs was defined by that in antiquity and the Middle Ages the certain person didn't think himself out of economic, social, cultural, religious and other spheres of life of society as a matter of fact.

The transition from the Middle Ages by the new time was marked by ripening of civil society and detection of distinctions between public and especially state institutes. The idea of individual freedom raised on the agenda a question of freedom of the man as a person, as member of the society independent of the state.

The main merit in development of the concept of civil society in its interrelation with the state belongs to the German philosopher of the XIX century Gegel.

The civil society can be presented as some kind of social space in which people interact as independent from each other and from the state of individuals. The basis of civil society is the civilized, amateur, full individual. In democratic society political and social functions are accurately divided and are carried out by various institutes. The emergence of civil society caused differentiation of human rights and the rights of the citizen. The human rights are provided with civil society, and the rights of the citizen – by the state. Along with the right of a private property freedom of business, labor and consumer activity guaranteed by the state has importance.

The equality before the law and the civil rights connected with it in the constitutional state are supplemented with the political and social and economic rights. In this case equality is not end in itself, and an initial condition which creates conditions of a choice equal for all. In civil society the unity of politics and religion, politics and ideology is abolished. The bifurcation the public and private, society and the state, the right and moral, political ideology and science, the religious and secular, etc. is approved.

As a whole civil society is identified with the sphere of private interests and requirements. It is natural that in their realization the man meets counteraction from other members of society. The public contract and the constitutional state establish the norms and the borders, urged to block destructive potentialities of fight and to direct it to the creative course.

Democracy is more than a set of constitutional rules and procedures that determine how a government functions. In a democracy, government is only one element coexisting in a social fabric of many and varied institutions, political parties? organizations and associations. This diversity is called pluralism, and it assumes that the many organized groups and institutions in a democratic society do not depend upon government for their existence, legitimacy or authority.

Thousand of private organizations operate in a democratic society, some local, some national. Many of them serve a mediating role between individual and the complex social and governmental institutions of which they are a part, filing roles njt given to the government and offering individuals opportunities to exercise their rights and responsibilities as citizens of democracy.

These groups represent their interests of their members in a variety of way – by supporting candidates for public office debating issues and trying to influence hjlicy decisions. Through such groups, individuals have an avenue for meaningful participations both in government and in their own communities. The examplies are many and varied : charitable organizations and churches, environmental and neighborhood groups, business associations and labour unions.