Some Thoughts on Civil Society in Eastern Europe and the Lockean Contractarian Approach

Bibliographic Data

ID7972642
AuthorsZbigniew Rau (0000-0002-8417-3456, Trinity College, Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year1987
Volume35
Issue4
Pages573-592
Publication date1987-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9248.1987.tb00206.x
OpenAlexW2071597032
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited3

Neither the concept of the totalitarian system nor the newly worked-out notion of ‘socialist civil society’ can express the social and political phenomenon of the rise and growth of independent groups and movements in Eastern Europe. Rather, it is suggested here that the Lockean contractarian approach should be used. This embraces mutually interacting ethical, empirical and analytic arguments which would take into consideration the state, the independent groups organized outside it, and the relationships between them. The utility of the model of the totalitarian state in understanding the origin of independent groups is discussed here. Lockean multidimensional individualism is suggested as a category expressing the political character of these groups, and Lockean teaching on absolute monarchy—a special form of the state of nature—is advanced as the means for analysing the relationship between these groups and the state of the Soviet type

Character (mathematics · Civil society · Epistemology · Individualism · Law and economics · Monarchy · Political science · Politics · Social contract · Sociology · State (computer science · State of nature · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Religion and Society Interactions

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub