Civil society and empire [[electronic resource] ] : Ireland and Scotland in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world / / James Livese

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910780645603321
• Autore: Livesey James
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2009
• ISBN: 1-282-35277-6; 9786612352775; 0-300-15590-5
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (1 online resource (x, 294 p.).)
• Collana: Lewis Walpole series in eighteenth-century studies
• Disciplina: 941.07
• Soggetti: Civil society - Great Britain - History - 18th century; Civil society - Ireland - History - 18th century; Civil society - Scotland - History - 18th century; Great Britain Politics and government 18th century; Ireland Politics and government 1760-1820; Scotland Politics and government 18th century; Great Britain Colonies America History 18th century
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter One. Coffee, Association, and Cultural Hybridity in Seventeenth-Century England -- Chapter Two. Improvement and the Discourse of Society in Eighteenth-Century Ireland -- Chapter Three. The Authority of the Defeatedy -- Chapter Four. The Experience of Empire -- Chapter Five. A Habitat for Hopeful Monsters -- Chapter Six. Civil Society and Empire in Revolution -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: James Livesey traces the origins of the modern conception of civil society-an ideal of collective life between the family and politics-not to England or France, as many of his predecessors have done, but to the provincial societies of Ireland and Scotland in the eighteenth century. Livesey shows how civil society was first invented as an idea of renewed community for the provincial and defeated elites in the provinces of the British Empire and how this innovation allowed them to enjoy liberty ; without directly participating in the empire's governance, until the limits of the concept were revealed. The concept of civil society continues to have direct relevance for contemporary political theory and action. Livesey demonstrates how western governments, for example, have appealed to the values of civil society in their projections of power in Bosnia and Iraq. Civil society has become an object central to current ideological debate, and this book offers a thought-provoking discussion of its beginnings, objectives, and current nature.