“THE THIRD SECTOR IN LATIN AMERICA : PRIVATE BUT PUBLIC”

A book by Rubem C. Fernandes reviewed by Sipko de Boer

This book (Private but Public. The Third Sector in Latin America) is guided by the following normative proposition : "If companies have grown used to the multinational scale, if governments are developing mechanisms for global negotiation and global sanction, there is an urgent need to internationalize instruments of citizen participation, for in modern times without citizenship there are no limits to arbitrary power."(p.2) Inspired by these ideas the author focuses on the Third Sector in Latin America, i.e. on activities of private agents in that part of the world, who work in the public sphere outside areas in which governments are active. That Sector sparks his imagination. He explores its nature, its constraints and its opportunities, while arguing and illustrating his points with data produced by research conducted by himself and/or others.

In the first chapter the importance of the Third Sector is underlined. Its recent "geometrical growth" (p.8) is signalled. Subsequently an effort is made to conceptualize more precisely its nature, while it is at the same time acknowledged that the concrete boundaries of the Sector are shifting "in time and place" (p.10). In the following chapters the development of the Sector in Latin America during the past decades is described in great detail. Organizations are mentioned and counted. The concerns and changing perspectives and approaches of agents and agencies in the Sector are discussed. Networks between these agents and agencies, combining "the autonomy of each point in the system with an intense flow of information" (p. 152), are described. The disappearance of barriers between major components of the Sector is signalled as well. The author points out that in the seventies and eighties social movements, civil associations and NGOs were very much operating without interaction with traditional forms of mutual help and/or business philantropy, but that in the nineties links between the former and the latter are increasing. And while acknowledging the presence of formal structures in the Third Sector, the author is keen to stress that so much is also happening there informally, "below the waterline" (pp. 15 and 125), below the "Tip of the Iceberg" (p.123), where activities and interactions take place which are not guided or constrained by public laws. Much of what is happening there confirms and strengthens values these public laws don't bother about or oppose.

In the concluding paragraph of the book the author gives some suggestions and expresses also clearly his credo again. "Third Sector" as a concept is, in his opinion, "only beginning to be propagated in Latin America, but there are positive signs" (p. 164). It is "an emerging reality" (p.164) that tries to reinforce "the cultural and subjective conditions under which the state and the market must function".(p.169) He welcomes this "reality", although he is aware of the fact that it contains not only positive elements. Nevertheless, it should be further promoted. Third Sector integration needs to be further stimulated. That does not require a "holistic kind of approach" (p.163) with an emphasis on centralized powers of decision making and control and on "permanent blocs of royalty" (p. 1 67), but rather "an improvement in the arts of communication" (p.166) and the formation of "multiple and partial alliances" (p.167) between autonomous agents and agencies active in the Sector. And while the latter communicate with each other and form (temporary) alliances, they should be "searching for common values".(p. 168) At the same time they should strengthen the process of democratization (pp.99-101) 1), pursue "the expansion of citizenship beyond the invisible lines of social apartheid" (p. 170) and make efforts to influence other Sectors. They should try to establish "positive interactions with the state and the market". (p.172)

Rubem Fernandez is fascinated by certain developments in the societal reality he describes. This interest in development may explain why he is not too concerned about the actual boundaries of the "Third Sector". Those boundaries remain conceptually slightly vague. The Third Sector is more than once presented by him as a field of action where private agents produce public goods and services for collective consumption and cater to collective needs. However, generalized exchange relations (like the exchange of gifts) and traditional forms of mutual help are also seen as part of the Sector. Should all these exchange relations and traditional forms of mutual help be considered components of the Sector ? Or only those catering to collective needs ? That is not clear. A question can also be raised about the author's frequent insistence that the Sector is "non profit".(p.11) This is undermined by his suggestion that "profits" made by an organisation operating in the Sector "must be reinvested in the means of production of the organization's stipulated goals".(p.9)

Fernandez is particularly fascinated by positive developments in the social reality he observes. He is not uncritically reviewing what he sees. He acknowledges that the Third Sector is not a "rose garden".(p.169) Nevertheless, he tends to regard it mainly as the site where positive developments take place and he is primarily interested in those developments. At the end of his book the need for such developments is so much occupying his mind that their locus, the Third Sector, is not treated as a reality anymore, with its pro's and con's, but as a promising idea that "might come to be".(p.164) Fernandez is thus indeed (as he states at the beginning of his book) very much adopting a normative approach. Consequently, he pays only limited attention to what actually contributes to the structure, the functioning and the expansion of the Third Sector in. Latin America.

The normative approach adopted in "Private But Public" is very explicitly presented and goes together with an inhibited appreciation of values (nourished by the Third Sector) which "transcend utility" (p.14) and which "in contrast with and above the rising individualism" underline "the significance of relational belonging".(p.133) Fernandez considers the manifestation of such values hopeful signs and the beginning of a countervailing force against the arbitrary power exercised by states and markets.

This show of hope based on descriptions of actual developments is appealing. It focuses on peace and mediation rather than conflict and struggle and draws attention to ideas and practices which have often been ignored 2). That is a welcome correction of reductionist approaches in the past. On the other hand, real life situations with painful moral dilemma's - situations in which the pursuance of peace seems to require conflict, "love"(p.143) can't be expressed without defiance, "democratic individualism" (p.101) invites also demagogy - might have received some more attention.

Fernandez does not only want to signal hopeful developments, he also wants to strengthen them. His book represents also an effort to develop a strategy with a clear vision. He advocates (a.o.) a path between "Modernism and Fundamentalism" (p.171). However, he himself seems to manoeuvre between Modernism and Postmodernism. He does not accept the "fragmentation that is typical of "post-modernity"" (pp. 172/173), but is also not very keen to organize the Third Sector very tightly 3). In certain respects he is very out-spoken : business and trade-unions should not only pursue their own immediate interests, they should also manifest responsibility for what is happening to the society and the physical environment around them. In other respects he prefers to mainly caution rather than to suggest clear directions.

"Private But Public" is an interesting book, partly because of the information it provides, partly because of the issues it addresses and partly because it gives a sympathetic account of an on-going struggle with these issues.

Our friend Rubem C. Fernandes, author of the book reviewed above by Sipko de Boer, was given an advance copy of this book review. His reaction to it is in itself of interest to our readers and constitutes a further contribution to the important current debate on citizenship.

"I was extremely glad to receive his (Sipko de Boer's) thoughtful critical comments. I recognize much of his criticism, but I would argue that the book's normative dimension may be validated on a pragmatic basis. The notion of a "Third Sector' does not refer to something existing out there which can be clearly isolated. It articulates, or better saying, it may articulate a series of on going processes. This articulation, and hence its “objective” value, depends on the recognition it gets from the actors involved; It seems to be “working” in Brazil, and there are positive signs showing from elsewhere, but it is all rather uncertain. In short, I am not looking for objectivity, but for plausibility, betting on the odds, the fingers crossed. Another thing, of course, is whether the book’s argumentation is convincing enough to encourage others to join in the betting and whether it stands up to rational criticism. Sipko’s comments make me wonder about that and they are most helpful.

Rubem Cesar Fernandes - Private But Public. The Third Sector in Latin America. Published by Civicus & Network Cultures - Asia, Washington, 1994.

1) The author’s observations about democracy and democratic culture seem to reflect much of what is also described by Sonia E. Alvarez. See Sonia E. Alvarez, "Deepening" democracy : popular movement networks, constitutional reform, and radical urban regimes in contemporary Brazil'. In : Mobilizing the Community, edited by R. Fisher and J. Kling. Sage, London, 1993, pp, 191-219.

2) Institutions like the media and academia, which often manifest a state-centred culture, are apparently beginning to pay some attention to them. See p.xviii of the Preface written by Miguel Darcy de Olivera.

3) While "manoeuvring' Fernandez is clearly struggling with some of the problems so well discussed in "Between Leninism and Radical Pluralism : Gramscian Reflections on Counter-Hegemony and the New Social Movement" written by W.K. Caroll and R.S. Ratner. See critical Sociology, Vol. 20, no.2, 1994, pp.3-26.