1- The private sphere: the intimate sphere of the individual and the family;2- The civilian sphere: the space where the business world, professional organizations, unions, associations and communities operate; and
3- The political sphere: the space where the public authority carries out its duties and missions.
The modern state tries to maintain its control over the civilian sphere and even the private sphere by making reference to the notion of the public sphere. I hold that it continues to try to do so because the major struggle of the state since the Tanzimat has been to control the entirety of civilian life.
However, changes in the production structure because of developments on the global level and evolution toward a new political culture lead us to review the idea of these two spheres from the classical era of the Western world. The public sphere fluctuates between the political and the civilian spheres under the influence of urbanization and global trends. And if we ask for further democracy and democracy for all, we need to seek ways to ensure that the civilian sphere expands at the expense of contraction of the political space. However, political actors in Turkey are trying to expand the political sphere; for instance, the main opposition party -- the Republican People’s Party (CHP) -- holds that the public sphere and public life are the same. In other words, the CHP asks for full state control over civilian life.
The Islamic world is suffering from this problem. What the continental European or the Scottish model offer is important to some degree. We have been living with an experience in the Islamic world since Tanzimat. The French model or the continental European model do not offer realistic or authentic openings to us. These may be meaningful to them; however, our historical and social developments and circumstances are totally different.
If you ask what kind of civilian sphere is needed, I should first start with the question of what sort of nation or society. Maybe I should say “civilian sphere” before referring to society. This is actually related to how we perceive the world and how we organize our lives.
Above all, this sphere should not be under the control of the mafia, because civilian society is not so innocent. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union and dissolution of communism, the mafia sought to control civil society in Russia and Ukraine. Not every nongovernmental entity is inherently good.
Secondly, NGOs should not assume a role of agency; currently, the activities of some civil society organizations in Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, the Turkic republics and Turkey are financed and sponsored by foreign foundations.
Thirdly, civil society should be sensitive to the historical experience of its own society; it should not commit a mistake by adopting Western institutions and structures without any modifications. The lack of a bourgeoisie class in our history does not mean that our people have been crushed under the brutality of the state and rulers. Karl Marx legitimized a grave crime like colonialism because he held that societies like ours may not be able to break their chains and get rid of the ties of exploitation. It is pretty surprising to witness that there is no difference between the views held by Weber, Marx or others when it comes to the Muslim world. Oriental despotism is equally valid for both Weber and Montesquieu.
We have to run our own analysis on our society and history through the use of our own materials. We will find a different world when we do this while relying on our own terms and notions. Of course, this does not and should not mean that we have to isolate ourselves from the Western world. No society can ever isolate itself from the rest of the world in the current age; this is not desirable, either. However, the whole world should not be obliged to assess itself and run its analysis by making references to Western values and precepts. Resistance and opposition to religion played a huge and determinative role in the formation and emergence of civil society, this is true. However, religion has protected society from the state in our history. It has prevented civil initiatives from spreading throughout the public sphere. In this case, the experiences of the Western and Islamic worlds are quite different. Therefore, when taking a look at the relations between the private, civilian and public spheres and making distinction between these spheres, this visible difference should be taken into account.
