Author : Steven C. Soper
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
ISBN 13 : 1442664460
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (426 download)
Book Synopsis Building a Civil Society by : Steven C. Soper
Download or read book Building a Civil Society written by Steven C. Soper and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2013-12-06 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most passionate advocates of Italy’s unification in the nineteenth century possessed an almost limitless faith in the benefits of civic association. They also shared a common concern: once Italian unification was achieved and various freedoms were established, would ordinary Italians naturally become responsible, progressive citizens – especially after centuries of foreign rule, regional division, and economic decline? Most unification advocates doubted that their fellow citizens could form a modern, progressive civil society on their own, or that a vibrant association life would develop from the ground up. Building a Civil Society is the first book-length English-language study of associational life in nineteenth-century Italy. Drawing on extensive research in published and unpublished documents – including associational records, newspapers, periodicals, government documents, guidebooks, exhibition catalogues, memoirs, and private letters – Steven C. Soper provides a complex account of Italian liberalism during Europe’s age of association. His study also raises important questions about the role that associations play in emerging democracies.