Marc Morje Howard on Civil Society in Post-Communist Countries

"What should we expect to find ten years from now? Will levels of membership and participation gradually increase, at least in some countries, and if so, how?"

"The first and most obvious potential mechanism is generational change, as younger post communist citizens less influenced by the experience of life in a communist system come of age. A group of people roughly the same age can be shaped not only by their common age or geography but by 'significant social events' such as war or economic depression. Piotr Sztompka argues that 'as long as the majority of the population consists of the people whose young, formative years, and therefore crucial socializing experiences fall under the rule of the communist regime-- one can expect the continuing vitality of the bloc culture.' He adds, however that this will change over time, as 'new demographic cohorts replace the older generations at the central positions in a society.' The expectation therefore is that those people who dislike and avoid voluntary organizations will eventually die off, replaced by younger generations that might be more sympathetic to such activities.

"The expectation that generational change will bring about a steady increase in organizational membership is certainly plausible (although not particularly encouraging, since even in the best conditions, it will take many decades for the process to run its course), and it reaffirms the importance of communist experience in explaining the low levels of post-communist organizational membership. Yet such a development may be far from assured, and it is difficult to predict whether or not generational change will contribute to an increase in participation in civil society in the long run. After all, socialization comes both from the current institutional setting and from one's parents, teachers, and peers, all of whom can contribute to reproducing the same patterns of attitudes and behavior, even if the original institutional environment is long gone."

Howard, Marc Morje. "The Weakness of Postcommunist Civil Society." Journal of Democracy. Vol 13 (1), January 2002.