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Civil Society
In this book which provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of one of the most important debates of our times, Michael Edwards asks whether 'civil society' is the big idea for the 21st century.
Asks whether 'civil society' is the big idea for the 21st century.
Provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of one of the most important debates of our times.
Explores theories of associational life, the good society and the public sphere, and clarifies their implications for policy and practice.
Draws inspiration and examples from history and contemporary experience, Islam and Christianity, South and North, and activists and academics.
Asks whether 'civil society' is the big idea for the 21st century.
Provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of one of the most important debates of our times.
Explores theories of associational life, the good society and the public sphere, and clarifies their implications for policy and practice.
Draws inspiration and examples from history and contemporary experience, Islam and Christianity, South and North, and activists and academics.
Paperback
First published November 11, 2003
About the author
Michael Edwards
15 books4 followersMichael Aubrey "Mike" Edwards (born Liverpool, England, 1957) is a writer and activist who has worked in various positions in foundations, think-tanks and international development institutions and who has written widely on civil society, philanthropy and social transformation. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos in New York and has worked in senior management positions for Oxfam (as Regional Director for Southern Africa), Voluntary Service Overseas (as Head of Development Education), Save the Children (as Director of Research, Evaluation and Advocacy), the World Bank (as a Senior Civil Society Specialist) and the Ford Foundation (as director of its Governance and Civil Society Program). He also co-founded the Seasons Fund for Social Transformation which made grants to organizations that link their work for social justice with spiritual principles and contemplative practices before it closed in 2010. His writings examine the global role of civil society and its institutions, the purpose and impact of philanthropy and the not-for-profit sector, the role of business in solving social problems, and the links between personal and social transformation.
Source: Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 14, 2011
The main strength of this book is the clear and succinct way in which Edwards has conceptualized his chapters in order to reflect major trends in the debate over civil society. He sets it up in terms of associational life, visions of the good society, the public sphere, and finally how all three of these can be combined.
This is not an exhaustive survey of civil society, but should serve as a very good first step for those unfamiliar with the scholarly debate on the topic.
This is not an exhaustive survey of civil society, but should serve as a very good first step for those unfamiliar with the scholarly debate on the topic.
August 19, 2014
Great overview of what the term civil society really means. it was interesting to see the various academic definitions which are used without specification in most discussions.
February 25, 2024
Read it for university.
A quote from 1381 of what participation in the public sphere is:
“Fellowship is life, and lack of fellowship is death, but in hell there is no brotherhood but every man for himself.”
A quote from 1381 of what participation in the public sphere is:
“Fellowship is life, and lack of fellowship is death, but in hell there is no brotherhood but every man for himself.”
July 8, 2025
This is a very informative introduction to what civil society is and how it works in today's world.
August 23, 2024
Sivil toplum teorilerinin ötesinde (ama onlara da bakarak) sıradan insanların birbirleriyle, etraflarıyla ilişkisine bakarak sivil toplumu tekrar canlandırmaya çalışıyor. Bilmiyorum bana Michael Edwards’ınkiler en kapsamlı en derli toplu sivil toplum içerikleriymiş gibi geliyor. Sivil toplumun özel sektörleşmesi ile ilgili bir şeyler yazınca buraya tekrar geleceğim.
Kitaba 18 dolar verdim. Pişman değilim.
Kitaba 18 dolar verdim. Pişman değilim.
December 13, 2013
If there is anything that seems to have become the idea of the era, it is civil society. Politicians of most stripes and hues seem to think it is the solution to many pressing issues (and in its ‘Big Society’ form in the UK it has become an excuse for slashing the state sector); in academia we’re all a flutter over ways to develop the idea as a strand in social research; it is proposed as the sector that will open up international development, community development and all manner of other social, cultural and political matters. But, like so many examples of everythingism – in so many cases it is poorly conceived and badly defined.
Thank heavens for Michael Edwards and his update of this fabulous little book. He traces three notions of civil society – as the associational life of the non-state public sector that is the clubs, societies and assorted groups that make up much of our lives; as what he calls the good society we see in notions of a commonwealth the ummah, tikkun, civic society (as Vaclav Havel called it), Kant’s global ethical community or the third sector of post-Soviet eastern Europe; as the public sphere as a place of debate, dissensus, contention and an arena for discussion (he also reminds us the ‘civil society’ is not necessarily ‘civil’ as in polite).
Yet, none of these notions is sufficient for Edwards – each is part of a theory of civil society but there needs to be a synthesis drawing on elements of all three to build a civil society as a vehicle for democracy and intervention in social and political action. At the heart of this argument is the idea of a healthy associational ecosystem (his term, repeated throughout the book) built and maintained through five forms of practice outlined on p 123:
• Clarity and transparency about why a particular form or patter of associational life is being promoted, and with that taking responsibility for the results;
• Focus on developing the conditions in which associations can shape themselves and their relationships (that is the autonomy of form and development);
• Seeing associational life as an ecosystem, and therefore focusing on enhancing its weaker areas;
• Providing for the development of the widest range of groups that can also articulate their own views and visions; and
• Building conditions of indigenous grounding and responsibility for these associations.
To do this, it seems to me, civil society needs to independent of the state, rather than as it is conceived in many right wing approaches, an agent of the state (this is certainly the case of the Tories ‘Big Society’ idea).
Edwards is also, quite properly, scathing of analyses such as Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone – it worries how quickly so many scholars latched on the trite homilies of this, and failed to recognise that mainstream politicians of both the right and left like is because it provides an argument for the conservative compliant social order they like. Edwards’ critique, however, is that in focussing on a particular type of association, Putnam missed much of what is happening in communities all around us.
This is one of the most accessible and rewarding texts looking for anintroduction to ways to explore the generic circumstances for civic and civil action as well as providing a state of the art analysis of recent scholarly and policy work on the non-state public sphere. Great for those of us who work in the area, great for our students. This is one I’ll keep coming back to.
Thank heavens for Michael Edwards and his update of this fabulous little book. He traces three notions of civil society – as the associational life of the non-state public sector that is the clubs, societies and assorted groups that make up much of our lives; as what he calls the good society we see in notions of a commonwealth the ummah, tikkun, civic society (as Vaclav Havel called it), Kant’s global ethical community or the third sector of post-Soviet eastern Europe; as the public sphere as a place of debate, dissensus, contention and an arena for discussion (he also reminds us the ‘civil society’ is not necessarily ‘civil’ as in polite).
Yet, none of these notions is sufficient for Edwards – each is part of a theory of civil society but there needs to be a synthesis drawing on elements of all three to build a civil society as a vehicle for democracy and intervention in social and political action. At the heart of this argument is the idea of a healthy associational ecosystem (his term, repeated throughout the book) built and maintained through five forms of practice outlined on p 123:
• Clarity and transparency about why a particular form or patter of associational life is being promoted, and with that taking responsibility for the results;
• Focus on developing the conditions in which associations can shape themselves and their relationships (that is the autonomy of form and development);
• Seeing associational life as an ecosystem, and therefore focusing on enhancing its weaker areas;
• Providing for the development of the widest range of groups that can also articulate their own views and visions; and
• Building conditions of indigenous grounding and responsibility for these associations.
To do this, it seems to me, civil society needs to independent of the state, rather than as it is conceived in many right wing approaches, an agent of the state (this is certainly the case of the Tories ‘Big Society’ idea).
Edwards is also, quite properly, scathing of analyses such as Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone – it worries how quickly so many scholars latched on the trite homilies of this, and failed to recognise that mainstream politicians of both the right and left like is because it provides an argument for the conservative compliant social order they like. Edwards’ critique, however, is that in focussing on a particular type of association, Putnam missed much of what is happening in communities all around us.
This is one of the most accessible and rewarding texts looking for anintroduction to ways to explore the generic circumstances for civic and civil action as well as providing a state of the art analysis of recent scholarly and policy work on the non-state public sphere. Great for those of us who work in the area, great for our students. This is one I’ll keep coming back to.
February 29, 2016
Michael Edwards provides a wealth of information and theoretical framework that firmly grounds the concepts surrounding “civil society” in something that is graspable and understandable. Edwards establishes these three general conceptual frameworks, but wastes no time pulling out their inconsistencies or inability to effectively tackle every scenario. What he proposes instead is a synthesis of ideas that balances the shortcomings of any one school of thought by channeling the strengths from others.
Although I've been doing some pretty extensive reading in this field, Edward’s divisions into three general schools of thought helped to parcel out and categorize ideas into something digestible. The lack of specification that usually goes with these terms left me with only a hazy grasp of their roots and ideology, but thankfully this book helped clear that up again. Trying to look at civil society as a global phenomenon and trying to figure out what direction to take said civil society is an awfully imposing task - but to even begin it, I think everyone needs a solid grounding in the evolution of philosophies that pertain to it, and an idea of how we can utilize all of them. On those fronts, Edwards gives us some hope for a better tomorrow.
Although I've been doing some pretty extensive reading in this field, Edward’s divisions into three general schools of thought helped to parcel out and categorize ideas into something digestible. The lack of specification that usually goes with these terms left me with only a hazy grasp of their roots and ideology, but thankfully this book helped clear that up again. Trying to look at civil society as a global phenomenon and trying to figure out what direction to take said civil society is an awfully imposing task - but to even begin it, I think everyone needs a solid grounding in the evolution of philosophies that pertain to it, and an idea of how we can utilize all of them. On those fronts, Edwards gives us some hope for a better tomorrow.
August 6, 2016
Probably the best introduction to this catch-all concept. Edwards introduces the historical roots and debates, and discusses its contemporary uses.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews