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Since Alexis de Tocqueville first made the linkage in his writings on America, a healthy democracy has been associated with the flourishing of civil society, as measured by popular participation in voluntary and civic activities and the vitality of organizations that mediate between the individual and the state. This volume takes a fresh look at this classic theme in the context of post-communist Eastern Europe, the West European welfare states and the United States, asking: what patterns of participation characterize the new democracies of Eastern Europe?; what levels of civic activism are characteristic of contemporary Western democracies?; what factors account for differences among countries and changing patterns over time?; and what do findings suggest about the prospects for democracy in the 21st century?
List of contents
About the Editors and Contributors, Acknowledgments, l. Introduction, 2. The Self-Organization of Society and Democratic Rule: Specifying the Relationship, 3. Institutions and Actors in a New Democracy: The Vanishing Legacy of Communist and Solidarity Types of Participation in Poland, 4. Local Democratization in the Czech Republic After 1989, 5. An Emerging Paradox: Civil Society from Above?, 6. The Social Democratic Party in Eastern Germany: Political Participation in the Former GDR After Unification, 7. The State, Associations and the Transition to Democracy: Early Corporatism in Sweden, 8. The Norwegian Voluntary Sector and Civil Society in Transition: Women as Catalysts for Deep-Seated Change, 9. Social Alliances and Coalitions: The Organizational Underpinnings of Democracy in Western Germany, 10. Democracy in America at the End of the Twentieth Century, 11. Conclusion: Contrasting Patterns of Participation and Democracy, Index
About the author
Dietrich Rueschemeyer
Summary
This volume takes a fresh look at democracy in the context of post-communist Eastern Europe, the west European welfare states and the United States, asking such questions as: what patterns of participation characterize the new democracies in Eastern Europe?
