Synopses & Reviews
In this fully revised edition of his groundbreaking book, Fred Powell looks behind “the mirror of power” to discover the real civil society—or Big Society—that lies beneath it. Articulating three forms of civil society—radical, liberal, and conservative—he examines a complex interplay between state and community, arguing that citizens contend for power via civil society. This is both a historic pursuit dating to antiquity and a contemporary democratic struggle between competing visions of modernity, the stakes of which are no less than “real” politics themselves as experienced by everyday citizens. The second edition includes a new concluding chapter on practical and policy implications.
Review
“A book that will be on the reading lists of political science undergraduates . . . [and] it should be read by those interested in the development and politics of the welfare state.”
Review
“Powell has spent many hours . . . reading vast amounts of academic and media print, trying to make sense of the various shifts in power and democratic forms evident in new civil society energies as diverse as the World Social Forums, Arab Spring, Occupy, and the Tea Party. For that this reader is grateful. Powells exploration enables the reader to meaningfully theorize and reflect on such recent events. The book explores a great deal of very complex theoretical debate and does so in very accessible manner. He makes good creative use of often long quotations from some of the emerging literature (Badiou, for example) and from the classics, but also draws on contemporary media (he is clearly a Guardian reader). I particularly liked his liberal use of George Orwell. The result is a lively read and a thorough investigation of the contemporary literature. . . . Powell poses big questions. He is provocative and he is not afraid to come off the fence. . . . The task of civil society is to produce the new political imaginary for the 21st century and this book is a worthy contribution to this challenge of creating a ‘social left.'”
Review
“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.”
Review
“This is a closely argued and fascinating book, and we are in Powell’s debt for updating his treatise.”
Synopsis
In this fully revised edition of his groundbreaking book, Fred Powell looks behind -the mirror of power- to discover the real civil society--or Big Society--that lies beneath it. Articulating three forms of civil society--radical, liberal, and conservative--he examines a complex interplay between state and community, arguing that citizens contend for power via civil society. This is both a historic pursuit dating to antiquity and a contemporary democratic struggle between competing visions of modernity, the stakes of which are no less than -real- politics themselves as experienced by everyday citizens. The second edition includes a new concluding chapter on practical and policy implications.
Synopsis
2011 shook the world politically. The Occupy Movement, Los Indignados and the Greek Aganaktismenoi (outraged) reacted to zombie capitalism in the West, while the Arab Spring challenged political tyrannies in the Maghreb-Mashreq region.Democracy became the meta-question of the moment. New communicative technologies unleashed a tidal wave of civic protest that spread across the globe, bringing new political actors on to the street. But what does this protest movement mean? Are we on the threshold of a transformation in global political consciousness? Is civil society the necessary counter-power that is democratising democracy from within? Or are we living through an apocalyptic terminal phase of civilisation? In the second, revised edition of this indispensable book, the author looks behind the mirror of power and differentiates the real from the fake in policy and politics. It offers an original and compelling history of the present and will have wide appeal to a broad cross-disciplinary audience.
Synopsis
In the second, revised edition of this indispensable book, the author looks behind 'the mirror of power' to discover the reality of civil society - or 'Big Society', as it has become known.
About the Author
Fred Powell is dean of social science and professor of social policy at the University College Cork, National University of Ireland.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Doublethink: the ‘Big Society, Small Government debate
2. The renaissance of civil society
3. Modernity, civil society and civic virtue
4. Radical civil society, early social movements and the socialization of the state
5. Nietzsches revenge: totalitarian big society
6. Rights talk, new social movements and civic revolts
7. American exceptionalism, multicultural civil society and Platos noble lie
8. Global civil society: myth or reality?
References
Index