Table of Contents

Introduction;

Doublethink: the Big Society, Small Government Debate;

The renaissance of civil society;

Modernity, civil society and civic virtue;

Radical Civil Society, Early Social Movements and the Socialisation of the State;

Nietzsche’s Revenge: Totalitarian Big Society;

Rights talk, New Social Movements and Civic Revolts;

American Exceptionalism, Multicultural Civil Society and Plato’s Noble Lie;

Global civil society: myth or reality?.

About the Author

Fred Powell is Professor of Social Policy and Dean of Social Science at the National University of Ireland, Cork. He has published extensively on civil society, political thought and citizen participation.

Reviews

"Fred Powell has written an original and important book which draws civil society from the margins into the centre of political and social theorising. The Politics of Civil Society will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the strengthening of market power and the erosion of democracy in contemporary society." ---Professor Peadar Kirby, Emeritus Professor of International Politics and Public Policy, University of Limerick, and UNESCO Chair, University of Valencia "Offers analytic tools to comprehend the economic and political context within which we live and invites us to explore the inherent complexity of civil society activities." Voluntary Sector Review