Rediscovering the little platoons

civil society and contemporary American conservative thought

Bruce Pilbeam

pp. 92-104

in: Chris Pierson, Simon Tormey (eds), Politics at the edge, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2000

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to explore the role played by the concept of civil society in American conservative thought of the 1990s, specifically, why it has become such a central motif and what implications there are in its deployment. The concept has of course become immensely fashionable in contemporary social and political debates; moreover interest in it has spread beyond purely academic discourses to find much wider favour. Indeed this may be seen across the political spectrum. Thus as one commentator observes: "civil society is hot. It is almost impossible to read an article on foreign or domestic politics without coming across some mention of the concept… from Hillary Rodham Clinton to Pat Buchanan, politicians of all stripes routinely sing its praises' (Zakaria, 1995, p. 1).

Cited authors

Plato