Religion and American Civil Society
The exercise of faith serves many functions, but its paramount role is to function as the foundation of civil society.
Civic Engagement - Most Popular
Social innovations that enrich society and enhance democratic participation (more)
On Shared Vision and a New Social Compact
Civic engagement and community voice make up the secret sauce of US democracy. We need a new, community-generated social compact to assert the vision and policy framework for an inclusive 21st-century America.
Civic Virtues and the Healing of Partisan Divides
In a time when many are drawing a line between communities and ideologies, the best line to draw is one that goes right through every human heart—a line that leads to five essential civic virtues.
The Best Leaders May Be Those Who “Give Up”
Leadership is often defined by lists of character qualities, values, or skills. But what if the best leaders are simply those who can willingly give up things they value?
Aspirin and Democracy
With its professional management class and army of consultants, the nonprofit sector can sometimes seem isolated from the messiness of civil society, and a new Philanthropic Beltway may have sprung up. But it wasn’t always that way, and it may be time to reclaim an earlier identity as the “volunteer sector,” which is inherently democratic.
Today’s Charitable Sector and Its Roots and Challenges
Like all of civil society, the American nonprofit sector is a living thing. Its recent evolution has created a large and diverse force for good, but faces distinct challenges ranging from identity to sustainability.
Civil Society and Authentic Engagement in a Diverse Nation
Discourse and dialogue have always been the hallmarks of civil society, but when the power of government is used systematically to divide and exclude, it is the stinging conversations and actions at the leading edge of civil society that will reestablish the democratic ideals of an equitable democracy.
Parallel Universes? Lines and Ties in Civil Society
The history of America’s Hispanic community shows how civil society can create a refuge for those excluded from society at large. But allowing such demarcation lines is never good enough. For a civil society to be effective, sustainable, and worthy, it must tie together all who reside in that society.
The American Context of Civil Society
In both the conservative and progressive imagination, civil society is valued—for opposite reasons—as an arbiter between the individual and the national state. But by viewing civil society as the core of America’s social life, we can see our way toward a politics that might overcome some of the dysfunctions of our day.
Looking to Civil Society for the Values that Shape a Culture
Culture is born of values, and civil society is where people live values most urgently. Amid growing social isolation in the United States, a new set of values is emerging around community, healing, and belonging, and they will likely define an era.