Ideas@TheCentre
The uncivil society
Over the last century, Australia’s welfare state has steadily taken over many aspects of human life that were provided by both for-profit and not-for-profit organisations.
This expansion eroded not just the institutions of civil society (like the friendly and benevolent societies that were widespread at the turn of the 20th century) but also the culture of civil society – expectations of self-reliance and independence were replaced with state-reliance and welfare dependence.
Arguments from classical liberals and libertarians for winding back the size of government sometimes seem to gloss over this problem, and place an inordinate amount of faith in the capacity of civil society to fill the vacuum of a welfare state in retreat.
Even if government is smaller and taxes are lower, this does not mean charities will step into the void and start sprinkling donors’ money around the country, solving social problems, and taking responsibility for everything that is no longer the responsibility of the state.
Unfortunately, in the 21st century, many so-called charities and not-for-profits depend on the state to fund the services they provide rather than philanthropy. Moreover, they are often instrumental in organising political campaigns to expand the size and scope of government.
Any attempt to put greater responsibility onto the shoulders of civil society will likely be met with hostility and resentment from the significant players in the sector. In some respects, civil society’s institutions are now just an extension of big government.
The proposition that civil society will gladly take over large components of the welfare state under a smaller government is naive.
We need a more comprehensive, sophisticated and pragmatic approach to reducing the size of government. The institutions of civil society have to be weaned off government and learn to look towards the private sector for more of the resources they require.
Cutting taxes and welfare expenditure is only half the solution to the problem of big government. Any serious project aimed at reducing the size of government in Australia needs to be done in conjunction with a concerted effort to restore the institutions and culture of civil society.
To do otherwise will likely lead to the failure of the classical liberal and libertarian project of achieving a small government.
Andrew Baker is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies.
