Questions for discussion, Class #4 - civil society

How may we usefully define civil society, so that it is not just another western absence which impedes our understanding of the Middle East?

 

Why do Marxists like Ali El Kenz have such a hard time understanding their societies (much less united theory and practice as Marx insisted)?

 

Under what conditions might tribes, by your definition, be part of a civil society?

 

Did precolonial Muslim societies have anything that might be deemed civil society?

 

Do Islamists, according to Sami Zubaida, share any "Western" elements of civil society? More generally, must civil society be secular?

 

Why does Hefner identify himself as a "post civil society" theorist?

 

What are the possible relationships between civil society and stable democracy? Do you think a stable democracy presupposes a strong civil society? Does a strong civil society promise stable democracy?

 

Do transitions from authoritarian to democratic rule presuppose a vibrant civil society? Is our thinking about transitions to democracy conditioned by "Western" understandings of civil society, as displayed in Latin America and Eastern Europe?