Civil society, 1750-1914

by Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann

"Using Alexis de Tocqueville's view on the exceptionalism of American democracy as his starting point, Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann argues that American society was less exceptional than Tocqueville suggests, given the enthusiasm for voluntary associations among practitioners of civil society in Britain, France, Germany, the Habsburg Empire, and Russia. Hoffmann shows the transference and adaptation of ideas and practices of civil society across national borders. By placing the tension between 'democracy' and 'civil society' at the centre of the book, Hoffmann's account reveals the dilemmas of...

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