Some Thoughts on Civil Society in Eastern Europe and the Lockean Contractarian Approach

Neither the concept of the totalitarian system nor the newly worked-out notion of ‘socialist civil society’ can express the social and political phenomenon of the rise and growth of independent groups and movements in Eastern Europe. Rather, it is suggested here that the Lockean contractarian approa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolitical studies Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 573 - 592
Main Author Rau, Zbigniew
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.1987
SAGE Publications
Clarendon Press
Subjects
Authoritarianism
EASTERN EUROPE
Europe, East
Government
POLITICAL HISTORY
POLITICAL MOVEMENT
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
TOTALITARIANISM
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Summary:Neither the concept of the totalitarian system nor the newly worked-out notion of ‘socialist civil society’ can express the social and political phenomenon of the rise and growth of independent groups and movements in Eastern Europe. Rather, it is suggested here that the Lockean contractarian approach should be used. This embraces mutually interacting ethical, empirical and analytic arguments which would take into consideration the state, the independent groups organized outside it, and the relationships between them. The utility of the model of the totalitarian state in understanding the origin of independent groups is discussed here. Lockean multidimensional individualism is suggested as a category expressing the political character of these groups, and Lockean teaching on absolute monarchy—a special form of the state of nature—is advanced as the means for analysing the relationship between these groups and the state of the Soviet type.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-4L6484CW-R
istex:EC054C3FEB704A5872968B9DC5B00B7A52E22C6B
ArticleID:POST573
This article has profited enormously from discussions with the following scholars to whom I wish to express my gratitude: Peter Laslett, who encouraged me to undertake this topic and who was kind enough to read and comment on the first draft; Maurice Cranston, John Dunn, James Fishkin, Leszek Kolakowski, Quentin Skinner, the editor and the two anonymous readers who also read the first draft, adding penetrating and critical comments which prevented me from making some serious mistakes. Responsibility for interpretation is mine.
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ISSN:0032-3217
1467-9248
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9248.1987.tb00206.x