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"From food banks to migrant welcome committees, and community organisers to internet based campaigners, civil society is central to the North Atlantic social landscape. Theology and Civil Society advances our understanding of what civil society is and offers a theologically informed re-imagining of our shared social life. Prefaced by a foreword by the Rev. Dr Rowan Williams, this book explores contemporary manifestations of the kind of collective action observed in civil society since the 1800s. It then examines civil society as the sum of modern associations which mediate our relationships to the market and the state, but which cannot be identified fully with either the market or the state. Finally, three different perspectives on civil society are presented using insights from theologians such as John Milbank and Georg Hegel. This is a pertinent topic for contemporary society, and it is explored expertly here by an international panel of contributors. As such, it is an important volume for any scholar of Theology and Religious Studies and their interactions with Sociology and Politics."--Provided by publisher.

"In einem ersten Schritt gibt der Autor einen kurzen Überblick über die politischen Kontexte des neueren Begriffsgebrauchs von Zivilgesellschaft. In einem zweiten Schritt werden demokratietheoretische Konzeptionen der Zivilgesellschaft im Überblick dargestellt. Auf die Begriffsverwendung in den jüngsten reformpolitischen Diskussionen macht die abschließende kurze Skizze zu 'Bürgerengagement und Zivilgesellschaft' aufmerksam. Der Diskurs der Zivilgesellschaft lässt sich insgesamt als eine weit ausholende und unabgeschlossene theoretische Suchbewegung nach den politischen Handlungsmöglichkeiten gesellschaftlicher Akteure zur Herstellung und Fortentwicklung demokratischer Formen der Politik charakterisieren. Assoziationen im intermediären Raum der Politik, politische Öffentlichkeit und responsive politische Institutionen einerseits, rechtsstaatliche Garantien negativer und positiver Freiheit andererseits bilden die Grundpfeiler des Diskurses. Seine Dynamik erhält er im Kontext der politischen Selbstverständigung radikaldemokratischer Akteure. Im Mittelpunkt steht hier der Zusammenhang einer Reformpolitik, die die Möglichkeiten der politischen Beteiligung zivilgesellschaftlicher Akteure an politischer Meinungs-, Willens- und Entscheidungsfindung zu erweitern sucht, mit einer demokratischen Selbstbegrenzung der Akteure auf den - für weitere Demokratisierung offen stehenden - institutionellen Rahmen liberaler Demokratie. Geprägt sind diese Selbstverständigungsdiskurse durch zwei Ausgangspunkte: den kulturellen Pluralismus auf der einen, die Komplexität einerausdifferenzierten modernen Gesellschaft und die kolonialisierenden Effekte von Markt und Staat auf der anderen Seite." (Autorenreferat)

Abstract:
Despite the apparent stability of the Castro dictatorship, an internal movement of civic resistance has gradually been gaining strength in Cuba. Opposition organizations as the Varela Project and the Women in White have undertaken important initiatives, and some 3,000 actions of protest and non-cooperation take place every year, mostly in the provinces of eastern and central Cuba. Alienated youth, marginalized non-whites, and oppressed workers represent three potentially explosive sources of cleavage and discontent. By reviving the democratic nationalism associated with the tradition of José Martí, the Cuban movement will be an important factor shaping the future of the country.

The opposition within Cuba has become more diverse as well as more unified, and the regime, despite its enduring capacity for repression, is showing signs of underlying weakness.

Presents a collection of comparative studies of civil society around two main issues: the comparison and analysis of civil society regimes in relation to different constructions of citizenship and welfare states and the role of civil society in governance and active participation of citizens

Civil society is analysed from an organizational perspective. Many ideas about the quality of interaction in civil society are similar to ideas about how to create excellent organizations. Although there is no clear definition of civil society, it is first of all understood in contrast to the state. Organizational forms mentioned in connexion with civil society, such as voluntary associations, new social movements and networks, are analysed. None, however, has proved to be without restrictions inherent in all organizations. The quality of civil society cannot exceed the quality of its organizational forms. I conclude that the structures of civil society are not persistent. Civil society exists through the coincidence of several processes in the interaction between people and organizations, and the notion of civil society is not more incompatible with the state than with other organizational arrangements. On the other hand, there are no organizational forms to assure a permanent establishment of civil society.

In recent years, civil society has become the darling of economists, political scientists and policy makers both in the Western and non-Western world. The discourse on the modern concept of civil society in Nepal is fairly new despite the age-old existence of civic practices. But those civic practices of civil society were of a different kind, endowed with different responsibilities, and can hardly be equated with the current notion of civil society. That was a civil society with a limited civic sphere, engaged in indigenous activities which contributed little towards citizenship building. The reason for this was that the civic space was either pre-determined or restricted by the state due to a primitive political structure based on parochial thinking. This might be one of the reasons why civic resurgence did not emerge until political change irrupted in the nineties. The Third Wave of democratization that swept away undemocratic regimes worldwide in fact led to a worldwide growth of civil society. In most cases the wave itself was the repercussion of a worldwide civic resurrection that could not be contained within the borders of nation-states. (.) ; Background The Development of Civil Society as an Idea The Rise of Civil Society as a Political Tool State of Civil Society in Nepal Civil Society as a New Avatar Conclusion References

Since the fall of communism in 1989 Southeast Europe has been a site of far-reaching societal transformation, much of it marked by political crisis, economic upheaval, ethnic tension, and bitter war. The book comprises articles investigating the history and development of civil society in post-communist Southeast Europe. How is civil society to be grasped, what are the historical factors shaping the civil societies of the region?, what is the function of civil society in the transition to democracy and a market-economy?, and what are the prospects for the future development of the civil societies of the region in an age of globalization?, -these are just a few of the major questions addressed in this collection of articles. Many of the authors are social scientists, philosophers, and activists from the region, offering first-hand critical analysis of the state of civil society in Southeast Europe and suggesting theoretical and practical strategies for the future course of its development. The aim is to provide the reader with insight into the complex challenges that face the civil societies of the region

State, civil society, and classical liberalism /Steven Scalet and David Schmidtz --Classical liberalism and civil society : definitions, history, and relations /Tom G. Palmer --Civil society and government : a liberal-egalitarian perspective /Will Kymlicka --Liberal egalitarianism : a family of theories, not a single view /William A. Galston --Critical theory perspective on civil society and the state /Kenneth Baynes --Skeptics at the celebration : civil society and the early Frankfurt School /Stephen K. White --Feminist perspectives on civil society and government /Nancy L. Rosenblum --Comment on Nancy Rosenblum's "Feminist Perspectives on Civil Society and Government" /Susan Moller Okin --Natural law, civil society, and government /Fred D. Miller, Jr. --Natural law : a response /William M. Sullivan --Limited state and a vibrant society : Christianity and civil society /John A. Coleman --Christianity, civil society, and the state : a Protestant response /Max L. Stackhouse --Civil society and government : seeking Judaic insights /Noam J. Zohar --Response to Noam Zohar /David Biale --Civil society and government in Islam /John Kelsay --Perspectives on Islam and civil society /Farhad Kazemi.