In recent social and political theory the term `civil society' has achieved renewed currency. Traditionally used in a normative or `ideal-type' sense, the term describes a form of social organization - that is simply neither economic nor political - where democracy, liberty and widespread solidarity are essential regulatory concepts.

Written from an empirical social-science perspective by some of the world's most important social theorists, this volume is a critical examination of the normative sense of `civil society'. It includes analyses of civil society and democracy, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and post-communism.