Description
Book SynopsisAs the countries of East-Central Europe struggle to create liberal democracy and the United States and other Western nations attempt to rediscover their own tarnished civil institutions, this title identifies the neglect of the idea of 'civil society' as a central concern common to both cultures today.
Trade Review"One of the merits of Adam Seligman's wide-ranging, probing, and deeply reflective inquiry into the history and uses of the idea of civil society is that it is concerned explicitly with identifying the ambiguities in its applications to contemporary societies ... In one aspect Mr. "Seligman's book is an exploration of the idea of civil society in all its contemporary and historical ironies and ambiguities, one that is richly learned and subtly reasoned. In another it is a question mark over the very idea of a civil society."--John Gray, The New York Times Book Review
Table of ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction11The Modern Idea of Civil Society152The Sources of Civil Society: Reason and the Individual593Civil Society, Citizenship, and the Representation of Society1014Jerusalem, Budapest, Los Angeles: In Search of Civil Society145Concluding Remarks on Civil Society199Notes207Index235
