It is only a decade ago that the eighteenth-century distinction between civil society and the state seemed old-fashioned, an object of cynicism, even of outright hostility. In this important new book, John Keane shows how, in a wholly unexpected reversal of fortunes, this antiquated distinction has since become voguish among politicians, academics, journalists, business leaders, relief agencies and citizens' organizations. John Keane examines the various sources and phases of the dramatic world-wide popularization of the term. He traces its reappearance in a wide range of contexts - from China to Tunisia, from South Africa to the emerging European Union - and clarifies the conflicting grammars and vocabularies of the language of civil society. Considerable care is taken to highlight the different possible meanings of the distinction between civil society and the state. Keane also takes the reader into previously uncharted intellectual territory by demonstrating that the civil society perspective contains unharnessed potentials: that it is possible to develop bold new images of civil society that alter the ways in which we think about matters such as power, property, violence, politics, publicity and democracy. Written with style and imagination, this important book by John Keane will be of great interest to students and scholars in politics, media studies, sociology, social and political theory, and to a broader public audience interested in the central debates and political developments of our time.
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February 1997: Half way through writing this book, a registered letter arrived from a colleague in Belgrade. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
political wistfulness, civil society perspective, existing civil societies, public service media, public service model, digital games, uncivil society, modern civil societies, old democracies, public service broadcasting, public service broadcasters, political despotism Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, John Keane, European Union, Thomas Paine, Conditions of Liberty, French Revolution, Michel Foucault, Norbert Elias, Times Literary Supplement, United States, Ernest Gellner, Max Weber, Richard Rorty, Third World, Augustus Richard Norton, Benedict Anderson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Middle East, New European Perspectives, Nicholas Garnham, South Africa, South Korea, Soviet Empire, Adam Michnik, Ellen Meiksins Wood New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
February 1997: Half way through writing this book, a registered letter arrived from a colleague in Belgrade. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
political wistfulness, civil society perspective, existing civil societies, public service media, public service model, digital games, uncivil society, modern civil societies, old democracies, public service broadcasting, public service broadcasters, political despotism Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, John Keane, European Union, Thomas Paine, Conditions of Liberty, French Revolution, Michel Foucault, Norbert Elias, Times Literary Supplement, United States, Ernest Gellner, Max Weber, Richard Rorty, Third World, Augustus Richard Norton, Benedict Anderson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Middle East, New European Perspectives, Nicholas Garnham, South Africa, South Korea, Soviet Empire, Adam Michnik, Ellen Meiksins Wood New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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This book cites 98
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- Rights of Man (Dover Thrift Editions) by Thomas Paine on page 82, page 83, and page 91
- Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society and Its Rivals by Ernest Gellner on page 74, page 76, and page 79
- The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Theory and History of Literature, Volume 10) by Jean-Francois Lyotard on page 54, page 62, and page 94
- Judging Lyotard (Warwick Studies in Philosophy and Literature) by Andrew Benjamin on page 54, and page 94
- Civil Society and Political Theory (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought) by Jean L. Cohen on page 17, and page 182
See all 98 books this book cites
- Civil Society: Berlin Perspectives (European Civil Society) by John Keane on 11 pages
- The Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology (Blackwell Companions to Sociology) by Kate Nash on 7 pages
- Civil Society and Political Theory (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought) by Jean L. Cohen on 7 pages
- The European Union: A Political Sociology by Chris Rumford on 6 pages
- Governance and Resistance in World Politics by David Armstrong on 5 pages
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