Civil Society Before Democracy

Lessons from Nineteenth-Century Europe

Contributions by Alberto Banti, Nancy Bermeo, Valerie Bunce, Laura Engelstein, Thomas Ertman, Raymond Huard, Jan Kubik, Adrian Lyttleton, Robert Morris, Antonio Costa Pinto, Pedro Tavares de Almeida, Klaus Tenfelde Edited by Nancy Bermeo, Philip Nord

Publication date:

15 November 2000

Length of book:

250 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780847695492

Bringing together historians and political scientists, this unique collaboration compares nineteenth-century civil societies that failed to develop lasting democracies with civil societies that succeeded. Much of the current literature on the connection between civil society and consolidating democracy focuses exclusively on single, contemporary polities that are ever-changing and uncertain. By studying historical cases, the authors are able to demonstrate which civil societies developed in tandem with lasting democracies and which did not. Contrasting these two sets of cases, the book both enlightens readers about individual countries and extracts lessons about the connections between civil society and democracy in contemporary times. Above all, the authors ask the vital but under-researched question, OHow and why does democratic civil society develop?O

Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 Part I:Preludes to Failed Democracies
Chapter 3 On Liberalism and the Emergence of Civil Society in Portugal
Chapter 4 The Dream of Civil Society in Tsarist Russia: Law, State, and Religion
Chapter 5 Public Opinion and Associations in Nineteenth-Century Italy
Chapter 6 Liberalism and Civil Society in Italy: From Hegemony to Mediation
Chapter 7 Civil Society and the Middle Classes in Nineteenth-Century Germany
Part 8 PART II: Preludes to Durable Democracies
Chapter 9 Civil Society, Subscriber Democracies, and Parliamentary Government in Great Britain
Chapter 10 Political Association in Nineteenth-Century France: Legislation and Practice
Chapter 11 Liberalization, Democratization, and the Origins of a Pillarized Civil Society in Nineteenth-Century Belgium and the Netherlands
Part 12 PART III: The Meaning of the Nineteenth Century Today
Chapter 13 The Role of Society and Non-Civic Associations in the Democratization of Poland, 1945-1996
Chapter 14 The Historical Origins of the East-West Divide: Civil Society, Political Society, and Democracy in Europe
Chapter 15 Civil Society after Democracy: Some Conclusions

This book bringing together the writings of historians and political commentators from Europe and the United States has the merit of reminding us that civil society is not a new idea since it had a big role to play in shaping European democracies in the nineteenth century. This intelligent sampling of the history of European countries also shows us that civil society is not necessarily synonymous with democracy...