THE NECESSITY OF POLITICS: Reclaiming American Life. With A Foreword By Jean Bethke Elshtain. ~ SIGNED COPY~ .

Beem, Christopher

ISBN 10: 0226041441 / ISBN 13: 9780226041445

Published by Chicago & London. 1999. Univ. Of Chicago Press, 1999

About this Item

dark blue cloth hardbound 8vo. 8º dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. looks new. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of all markings. dustwrapper in fine cond. couple of scratches on the rear, not torn or price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, inking , underlining, remainder markings ~first edition . first printing ( # 1 in # line). SIGNED on the front flyleaf with an inscription by Chris Beem. xiv+331p. notes. index. world history. philosophy. politics. political philosophy. de tocqueville. hegel. ~ Even in the midst of an economic boom, most Americans would agree that all is not right in our polity. Our civic institutions are in bad shape, many argue, and we are growing ever more cynical and disconnected from our leaders and from one another. In response to this bleak assessment, advocates of " civil society" argue that our society's predicament centers on the decline of our local institutions: families, neighborhoods, churches, and community associations. If we are to restore a more moral, civic~minded society, we must work to rejuvenate these institutions. Christopher Beem argues that while the movement's goals are timely and advisable, simply restoring local institutions will not solve the problem; society also needs politics and government to provide a sense of shared values and ideas. Beem traces the concept of civil society back to its theoretical wellsprings in Tocqueville and Hegel, who grappled with the same problems more than a century ago. Both thinkers rejected the sufficiency of civil society alone to achieve the degree of moral and civic unity necessary for a well~ordered polity. Beem brings their thought alive by relating it to the contemporary civil society debate. He then turns to the history of the American Civil Rights movement, culminating in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to illustrate how civil society both instructs and is instructed by the moral parameters developed through politics. This timely book seeks to correct a movement that is all too willing to undervalue or dismiss the role of politics in cultivating a moral society. More than this, The Necessity of Politics calls for a more developed sense of what the state is for, what our politics ought to be about, and of how government and civil society are both necessary to fashion and sustain a moral commonwealth.

Seller Inventory # 12121202

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE NECESSITY OF POLITICS: Reclaiming American Life. With A Foreword By Jean Bethke Elshtain. ~ SIGNED COPY~ .
• Publisher: Chicago & London. 1999. Univ. Of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226041441
• ISBN 13: 9780226041445
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Even in the midst of an economic boom, most Americans would agree that civic institutions are hard pressed and that they are growing ever more cynical and disconnected from one another. In response to this bleak assessment, advocates of "civil society" argue that rejuvenating neighborhoods, churches and community associations will lead to a more moral, civic-minded polity. Christopher Beem argues that while the movement's goals are laudable, simply restoring local institutions will not solve the problem; a civil society also needs politics and government to provide a sense of shared values and ideas. Tracing the concept back to Tocqueville and Hegel, Beem shows that both thinkers faced similar problems and both rejected civil society as the sole solution. He then shows how, in the case of the Civil Rights movement, both political groups and the federal government were necessary to effect a new consensus on race. Taking up the arguments of Robert Putnam, Michael Sandel and others, this book calls for a more developed sense of what the state is for and what American politics ought to be about.

About the Author

Christopher Beem directs the Democracy and Community Program at The Johnson Foundation and is the author of Pluralism and Consensus: Conceptions of the Good in the American Polity.