MACMILLAN Civil Society: A Reader in History, Theory and Global Politics

This volume provides the first critical selection of texts on the evolution of 'civil society' as a central and contested idea from the seventeenth century to the present. In the last two decades, civil society has re-emerged as a popular notion in the analysis of society, politics and culture amongst academics and politicians alike. What is 'civil society'? What are its virtues and its issues? Does the concept hold out the promise of overcoming the dilemmas of liberal democracies in the West, or even point to a global civil society? This reader provides the first selection of key texts on the evolution of civil society as an idea and practice. With an original introduction by the editors on civil society as a state of contestation, the volume situates current debates in their larger historical trajectory. For readers interested in international politics, theory and social policy, the volume offers a fresh way of relating and interrogating current arguments against earlier debates. For students of history, it offers a chance to tie historical developments to contemporary controversies. The reader combines sources from European ideas and practices with texts on the broader global debates about civil society, including texts about Islam, China and human rights. Review 'Frank Trentmann and John Hall rescue the concept of civil society from hazy approbration and lazy usage. By inserting contestation, complexity and change into the past and present of the concept, in theory and in practice, in west and the rest, their selection of texts is an indispensable starting point for thinking about civil society.' - Professor Martin Daunton, Master of Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge 'The editors wear their erudition lightly, but their masterful editing of over seventy contributors creates a vibrant conversation. The volume succeeds because of their wisdom and intellectual creativity.' - Deborah Davis, Professor of Sociology, Yale University, USA About the Author JOHN A. HALL is Dean of Arts and James McGill Professor of Sociology at McGill University Montreal. His books include Civil Society: Theory, History, Comparison (editor), Power and Liberties, and Is America Breaking Apart? (with Charles Lindholm). FRANK TRENTMANN is Senior Lecturer in History at Birkbeck College, University of London, and Director of the Cultures of Consumption Programme. His publications include Paradoxes of Civil Society (editor) and Markets in Historical Contexts: Ideas and Politics in the Modern World (co-editor with Mark Bevir).