Michael Edwards - Civil Society

1 Dedication Dedication For Cora My own “civil society”

2 Title page CIVIL SOCIETY Fourth Edition Michael Edwards polity

3 Copyright page

4 Preface Notes

5 Acknowledgments

6 1 Introduction – What’s the Big Idea? Civil society: a very brief history of an idea The rise and fall of civil society Notes

7 2 Civil Society as Associational Life Is there an “associational revolution” at work in the world today? Who is “in” and who is “out”? Organizations and ecosystems Associational life in cross-cultural perspective Associational life in the Middle East Associational life in Africa Notes

8 3 Civil Society as the Good Society Associational life and the good society States, markets, and societies that are civil Civil society and the market Civil society and the state Notes

9 4 Civil Society as the Public Sphere Why is the public sphere important? Threats to the public sphere What causes polarization among the public? Do social media make things worse? Conclusion Notes

10 5 Synthesis – How Do the Different Models of Civil Society Fit Together? Associational life, the public sphere, and the good society The civic culture school The comparative associational school The school of skeptics Global civil society Conclusion: is any generalization possible? Notes

11 6 Action – So What’s to be Done? Building the preconditions for a true civil society Pressure points: supporting systemic, non-directive interventions Conclusion Notes

12 References

13 Index

14 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Contents

3 1 Introduction – What’s the Big Idea?

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For Cora

My own “civil society”

Fourth Edition

Michael Edwards

polity

Copyright © Michael Edwards 2020

The right of Michael Edwards to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First edition published in 2003 by Polity Press

Second edition published in 2009 by Polity Press

Third edition published in 2014 by Polity Press

This fourth edition published in 2020 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3734-1

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3735-8(pb)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Edwards, Michael, 1957- author.

Title: Civil society / Michael Edwards.

Description: Fourth edition. | Medford : Polity Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: «Now in its fourth edition, Civil Society has become a major work of reference for those who seek to understand the role of voluntary citizen action in a troubled world. Ideas about the civil sphere can shed much light on how we might respond to polarization, privatization, and authoritarians of different various stripes»-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019017518 (print) | LCCN 2019980643 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509537341 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509537358 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509537365 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Civil society. | Social contract.

Classification: LCC JC337 .E38 2019 (print) | LCC JC337 (ebook) | DDC 300--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019017518

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019980643

Typeset in 11 on 13pt Berling

by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk, NR21 8NL

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK), Ltd, Croydon

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

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Economic, cultural, and political developments over the last five years do not bode well for the theory and practice of civil society. In most parts of the world, communities are increasingly divided and fragmented. Violence, intolerance, and inequality are on the rise. Authoritarians and populists of different stripes have gained a foothold even in advanced democracies. Restrictions on freedom of speech and association are increasingly common. Trust in charities has declined as a result of well-publicized recent scandals. And public spheres – privatized, commercialized, hollowed out and distorted by “filter bubbles” on social media and accusations of “fake news” – seem thoroughly incapable of addressing these problems and concerns. As the writer Amanda Ripley put it in a 2018 article for the Solutions Journalism Network, “In the present era of tribalism, it feels like we’ve reached our collective limitations.” 1