What Civil? What Society? Inter-disciplinary workshop We propose to examine the workings of the concept of ‘civil society’ not just in contemporary Europe and North America but historically and in contexts across the world as well as across academic disciplines. We will seek not to define ‘civil society’ but to identify the consequences – political, … Continue reading What Civil? What Society?
Hosted by the Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law (CISRUL) at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland Tuesday 25th – Wednesday 26th June 2013 Academic coordinator: Trevor Stack (t.stack@abdn.ac.uk) Click on session titles below for summaries Notions of political community are implicit in many or most contemporary debates (academic and public) of citizenship, civil society, … Continue reading Political Community Workshop 2013
What happens when religious institutions do not have a real stake, especially where political institutions are designed precisely to avoid them having a stake? In contemporary world, there is a post-Enlightenment feeling that recognition is best we can do instead of accommodation: e.g. Martha Nussbaum New Religious Intolerance worried about European (vs. US) responses to terrorism > narcissism of … Continue reading A historical approach
Theoretical points Political = managing collective affairs Contestation reifies political collective by contesting Threats of violence useful as symbols of power Sense of community is ideal to strive for Focus on socioenvironmentalism in Brazil focus on sustainability, combining different forms of knowledge convergence of groups: NGOs, social movements, indigenous collectives Example of meeting to protect … Continue reading Toward global political community?
Roma case (addressed by PhD student) concerns loyalties etc. that like citizenship but not toward nation-state; similarly, unions (addressed by Sian Lazar) are in some ways similar to democratic states and in other ways not (we still need a passport from states) Early Christians refuse to accept Emperor is divine but pay taxes etc. > … Continue reading Philosophical approaches
