Course schedule

Week 1 (6. 10. 2020) Introductory discussion: What is civil society (good for)?

Part I. The Normative Approach

Week 2 (13. 10.)

Required reading: Ernest Gellner, Conditions of Liberty, chs. 1, 24, and 28

Optional further reading: Cohen and Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory (especially Part III) Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (esp. Part II) Petr Pithart, “Občanská společnost a stát” (in Czech)

Part II. The Classics

Week 3 (20. 10.) Pioneers

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, ch. VII Alexis de Tocqueville, selections from Democracy in American (Book 2, ch. VII)

Optional further reading: Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Week 4 (27. 10.) A New Synthesis

G. W. F. Hegel, “Civil Society,” Part A (in The Philosophy of Right)

Optional further reading: the rest of The Philosophy of Right

Week 5 (3. 11.) A Radical Critique

Karl Marx, “On the Jewish Question”

Optional further reading: Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction” Antonio Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks

17. 11. No class

Part III. The Revival

Week 6. (10. 11.) Dissent in Eastern Europe

Required reading: Gideon Baker, Civil Society and Democratic Theory, ch. 2, “...Czechoslovakian and Hungarian Voices”

Optional further reading: Baker, ch. 1, “...Polish Voices” Václav Benda, “The Parallel Polis” Iván Szelényi, “Socialist Opposition in Eastern Europe: Dilemmas and Prospects” John Keane, Democracy and Civil Society (esp. chs. 1 and 2)

Week 7 (24. 11.) Dissent in Latin America

Required reading: Baker, ch. 3, “...the Latin American Left’s Rediscovery of Civil Society”

Optional further reading: Baker, ch. 4 Cohen and Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory, ch. 1 Subcomandante Marcos, “Second Declaration from the Lacandona Jungle”

Week 8 (1. 12.) The Post-Communist Taming

Required reading: Veronika Stoyanova, “The Concept of Civil Society during the ‘Transition’”

Optional further reading: Baker, ch. 5, “Civil Society and Theories of Democratization in Eastern Europe” Baker, ch. 6, “...in Latin America”

Part IV. Contemporary Critics

Week 9 (8. 12.) Beyond the Civil World

Partha Chatterjee, “The Politics of the Governed” (esp. section II, pp. 64–78)

Optional further reading: Chris Hann and Elizabeth Dunn (eds.), Civil Society: Challenging Western Models Neera Chandoke, Conceits of Civil Society

Week 10 (15. 12.) Beyond Citizenship

Required Reading: Amy Brandzel, Against Citizenship, introduction

Optional further reading: the rest of Against Citizenship Jeffrey Alexander, “De-civilizing the Civil Sphere” (in The Dark Side of Modernity)

Week 11 (22. 12.) Another Look Back

Required Reading: Engin Isin, Being Political, ch. 8

Optional further reading: Walter Mignolo, The Darker Side of Western Modernity

29. 12. No class

Week 12 (5. 1. 2020): Final discussion/course overview