Civil Society and Government

Civil Society and Government brings together an unprecedented array of political, ethical, and religious perspectives to shed light on the complex and much-debated relationship between civil society and the state. Some argue that civil society is a bulwark against government; others see it as an indispensable support for government. Civil society has been portrayed both as a independent of the state and as dependent upon it. This book reveals the extraordinary diversity of views on the subject by examining how civil society has been treated in classical liberalism, liberal egalitarianism, critical theory, feminism, natural law, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Confucianism.

The volume draws on the work of eminent scholars to address six questions: In terms of function and consequences, does it matter where the line is drawn between civil society and the state? What is the relationship of civil society to the state? In what contexts and under what conditions should government interact with individuals directly or instead indirectly through communal associations? What are the prerogatives and duties of citizenship, and what is the role of civil society in forming good citizens? How should a society handle the conflicts that sometimes arise between the demands of citizenship and those of membership in the non-governmental associations of civil society?

A theoretical introduction by the editors--political theorist Nancy Rosenblum and legal scholar Robert Post--and a conclusion by religious ethicist Richard Miller, tie the book together. In addition to Rosenblum, the contributors are Kenneth Baynes, David Biale, John Coleman, Farhad Kazemi, John Kelsay, William Galston, Will Kymlicka, Tom Palmer, Fred Miller, Susan Moller Okin, Peter Nosco, Henry Rosemont, Steven Scalet, David Schmidtz, William Sullivan, Max Stackhouse, Stephen White, and Noam Zohar.

Author: Nancy L. Rosenblum
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 12/23/2001
Pages: 424
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.16h x 6.08w x 1.03d
ISBN: 9780691088020

About the Author
Nancy L. Rosenblum is Professor of Government at Harvard University. She is the author of Membership and Morals (Princeton), Another Liberalism, and editor of Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith (Princeton). Robert C. Post is Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Constitutional Domains and editor or coeditor of several other books.