CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE STATE: DIRECTIONS OF INTERACTION

Abstract

The article analyzes the political content of the ideology of civil society, which manifests itself in two main aspects: first, through the limitation of state influence on all areas of human life; secondly, through the creation and activity of public associations that help citizens solve important issues for them in the socio-political plane, protect citizens from state pressure, and consolidate society. It was found that the political nature of civil society is manifested in the presence of such institutions as political parties, socio-political organizations, independent mass media, local self-government bodies through which it interacts with the state. The tasks and methods of activity of civil society and the state differ significantly. The main task of a democratic state is to ensure national interests, while the priority of civil society is to protect private, individual, group and general interests of citizens. It has been found that differences in goals lead to certain contradictions, and therefore, with the cooperation of civil society and the state, permanent conflicts between them are as natural as a person’s choice of strategic and tactical goals, means of their achievement, finding a compromise and the optimal state of desires and opportunities. A functional manifestation of civil society should be considered the activity of its institutions, which is aimed at the affirmation and protection of its main values, the implementation and optimization of the institutional mechanisms of democracy, as well as the political and legal foundations of its reproduction and improvement.