1 Is there any principled means of classifying an association of citizens as part of civil society, or not?
2 How, if at all, might an appeal to civil society help with the dispute between liberals and their communitarian critics?
3 "The unique historical conditions of Western Europe make civil society a concept that cannot really be exported to explain or justify political arrangements in other parts of the world". Discuss.
4 To what extent does the concept of civil society help in the explanation or justification of processes of democratisation?
5 What, in your view, is the relationship between the idea of democratic citizenship and the idea of civil society?
6 Is political participation part of the good life? Does participation in civil society make for good citizens?
7 ̉The Marxist appeal to new social movements in civil society is an opportunistic attempt to find radical potential in society after the failure of class based predictions of social revolution". Discuss
8 "Civil society is to be explained in terms of its opposites: despotism, fanaticism, factionalism, tribalism'. Do you agree?
9 Is there any analogy between participation in a free association in civil society and trusting other citizens more generally?
10 Is the idea of interpersonal trust an ethical notion or an explanatory one?
11 In what sense, if any, are societies with developed civil societies more democratic than societies which lack such free associations?
12 What is wrong with the elite theory of democracy?
13 Was Marx right to suggest that the normative appeal of civil society gives a bogus legitimacy to capitalist market relationships?
14 "Theorists and pundits may appeal to the concept of civil society in order to renew the democratic spirit of Western societies, but they are too far behind the practical realities. Associational life has declined to the point that there is nothing to which one can appeal any more." Discuss.
16 "The internet offers the technological means for the implementation of radical participatory democracy in a mass society". Discuss.