Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society And Its Rivals - Hardcover

Ernest Gellner

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241002206 ISBN 13: 9780241002209

Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, 1994

Synopsis

Western democracies are "open societies" in which neither the state nor religion try to achieve a monopoly of power or the exclusive claim on people's hearts. In between the state and the family are countless other institutions, from trade unions to stamp collecting clubs, from student organizations to churches and protest movements. This is the civil society. Before the fall of communism in 1989, all this was prescribed. The state (the Communist Party) controlled everything. In the Middle East (Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia especially), this remains the case. In Eastern Europe there is a burgeoning civil society. In fundamentalist Islamic society there is none. Why not? This book tries to find out why.

About this title

About the Author:

Ernest Gellner is William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology at Cambridge and Professorial Fellow at King's College. For the last three years he has also been Research Professor at the Central European University, Prague.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0241002206
• ISBN 13: 9780241002209
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240