The Quest for Civil Order

Examines four notable thinkers in the field of modern social and political theory, with a view to determining how far it is possible to create and maintain a non-coercive but sustainable political order under conditions of diversity in contemporary Western democracies.

Avainsanat: Social theory, political theory, politics, diversity, democracy, Gellner, civil society, pluralism, modular man, economy, individualism, economics, centralisation, centralization, decentralisation, decentralization, society, Hayek, knowledge, abstract rules, obligatory rules, Habermas, discursive democracy, communicative reason, law, autonomy, rational consensus, rationality, social integration, morality, patriotism, political participation, majority rule, legitimate law, administrative power, authority, proceduralist democracy, radicalism, Oakeshott, civil association, moral agency, human conduct, civility, conservatism, freedom, diversity