Michael Perleman writes that (or quotes Thernborn that): >> To Hobbes and Locke, civil society was contrasted with a state of nature and was synonymous with a politically organized society.<< For Locke, the "state of nature" (ch. 2 of the 2nd TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT) was extremely different from Hobbes' state of nature, which he rightly called the state of _war_. (Hobbes' state of nature renders human life "nasty, brutish, & short.") Locke's state of nature (unlike that of Hobbes) assumes that people will respect private property rights despite the nonexistence of a state; it is politically organized in the sense of protecting property rights without there actually being a state. As far as I can tell, this is the same as Locke's ch. 7 "political" or "civil" society. Having a state makes the enforcement of property rights easier. As Bryan Nelson (1996. WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT FROM SOCRATES TO THE AGE OF IDEOLOGY, p. 200) notes, there are two social contracts in Locke: (1) to create civil society, his state of nature; and (2) to establish the centralized state. The state is seen as the servant of the civil society created by the former social contract. The civil society outside of the state remains organized, so that if the state gets out of line (rebelling against its presumed master), Locke advocates the overthrow of the government. The new theories of civil society emphasize the point that for civil society to be coherent there have to be specific institutions (in addition to individuals or families, Locke's "conjugal society"), middle-level institutions between the state and the households. In workers' civil society, unions etc. play that kind of role. In the capitalists' civil society, the capitalist political parties (Democrats & Republicans in the US), media outlets, corporations, etc. play that role. It's pretty obvious that these days, the capitalists' civil society is much more coherent than that of workers. It is presumptuous for NGOs from outside a country to portray themselves as institutions of "civil society." At best they represent civil society in the countries in which they are based. This is a form of imperialism. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ. 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.
