The liberation of civil society: neo-liberal ideology and political theory

The state versus civil society debate is an arena where competing class projects confront each other, each seeking to ensure a social basis for its own control over the state. The state plays a central role in the construction of civil society. The neo-liberal project seeks to de-legitimise the stat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of African political economy 1993-11, Vol.20 (58), p.20-33
Main Author: Beckman, Björn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capitalism
Civil society
Economic liberalism
Economic rent
International development
Liberalism
Nationalism
Political economy
Rent seeking behavior
World Bank
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Summary:The state versus civil society debate is an arena where competing class projects confront each other, each seeking to ensure a social basis for its own control over the state. The state plays a central role in the construction of civil society. The neo-liberal project seeks to de-legitimise the state as a locus of nationalist aspirations and resistance, drawing on theories of 'rent-seeking', 'patrimonialism' and 'state autonomy'. The neo-liberal project conceals its own massive use of state power, transnational and local, for the construction of a civil society in its own image while suppressing actually existing civil society which it defines as 'vested interests'.
ISSN:0305-6244
1740-1720
DOI:10.1080/03056249308704017