The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society

by Edwards, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780195398571
• ISBN10: 0195398572
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-08-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In the past two decades, '"civil society" has become a central organizing concept in the social sciences. Occupying the middle ground between the state and private life, the civil sphere encompasses everything from associations to protests to church groups to nongovernmental organizations. Interest in the topic exploded with the decline of statism in the 1980s and 1990s, and many of our current debates about politics and social policy are informed by the renewed focus on civil society. Michael Edwards, author of the most authoritative single-authored book on civil society, serves as the editor forThe Oxford Handbook of Civil Society.Broadly speaking, the book views the topic through three prisms: as a part of society (voluntary associations), as a kind of society (marked out by certain social norms), and as a space for citizen action and engagement (the public square or sphere). It does not focus solely on the West (a failing of much of the literature to date), but looks at civil society in both the developed and developing worlds. Throughout, it merges theory, practice, and empirical research. In sum,The Oxford Handbook on Civil Societywill be the definitive work on the topic.

Author Biography

Michael Edwards is currently Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos in New York, Senior Visiting Scholar at the Robert F Wagner School of Public Service at New York University, and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Brooks World Poverty Institute at Manchester University in the UK. He is also the former Senior Advisor to World Bank on Civil Society and the former Director of the Ford Foundation's Governance and Civil Society Program.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Introduction

The History of Civil Society Ideas

The Forms of Civil Society

The Non-Profit Sector

Development NGOs

Grassroots Associations

Social Movements

Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurs

Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurs

Geographical Perspectives

Geographical Perspectives

Civil Society in Latin America

Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe

Civil Society in the Middle East

Civil Society in China

Civil Society in India

Civil Society in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Norms of Civil Society

Civil Society and Social Capital

Civil and Uncivil society

Nina Eliasoph: Civil Society and Civility

Civil Society and Equality

Civil society and Diversity

Civil Society and Religion

Civil Society and Spirituality

The Spaces of Civil Society

Civil Society and Government

Civil Society and Civil Liberties

Civil Society and the Public Sphere

Civil Society and Public Work

Civil Society in the Digital Age

Civil Society and Public Journalism

Civic Knowledge - Peter Levine

The Achievements of Civil Society

Civil Society and Democracy

Civil Society and Poverty

Civil Society and Peace

Civil Society and Power

Civil Society and the Market

Supporting Civil Society

Civil Society and Institutional Philanthropy

Civil Society and Grassroots Philanthropy

Assisting Civil Society and Promoting Democracy

Conclusion

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