{"id":2052,"date":"2013-03-27T17:31:06","date_gmt":"2013-03-27T17:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/infed.org\/mobi\/?p=2052"},"modified":"2026-01-17T13:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:07:38","slug":"association-democracy-and-civil-society","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Association, democracy and civil society"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0<\/h2>\n

A set of pages exploring civil society, civic participation, the development of community and association, and the activities of educators and animateurs.<\/h2>\n
\n

‘The strength of free peoples resides in the local community. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people’s reach; they teach people to appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to make use of it. Without local institutions, a nation may give itself a free government, but it has not got the spirit of liberty’. (Alexis de Tocqueville 1835)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Image<\/strong>: Humanity against Trump by m on Unsplash<\/h6>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

introducing association, democracy and civil society<\/h3>\n

Association and la vie associative<\/a><\/strong>. This piece explores the process of joining together in companionship or to undertake some task – and the educative power of playing one’s part in a group or association.<\/p>\n

Civil society<\/a><\/strong>. <\/span> Michael Edwards explores the practical and theoretical significance of civil society – and suggests some ways forward.<\/p>\n

Civic community<\/strong><\/a>. What are the essential conditions of successful democracies? What is the significance of civic community for the development of good institutions? We explore Robert D. Putnam\u2019s<\/a> path-breaking analysis of civil traditions in Italy.<\/p>\n

Social capital<\/a><\/strong>. The notion of social capital is a useful way of entering into debates about civil society \u2013 and it is central to the arguments of Robert Putnam and others who want to \u2018reclaim public life\u2019. We examine it’s nature – and some of the issues surrounding its use. See also: Robert. D. Putnam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click<\/a><\/strong> for a full listing of articles and resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 A set of pages exploring civil society, civic participation, the development of community and association, and the activities of educators and animateurs. ‘The strength of free peoples resides in the local community. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people’s reach; they teach people to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28873,"parent":0,"menu_order":25,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"class_list":["post-2052","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nAssociation, democracy and civil society - infed.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Association, democracy and civil society - infed.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 A set of pages exploring civil society, civic participation, the development of community and association, and the activities of educators and animateurs. ‘The strength of free peoples resides in the local community. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people’s reach; they teach people to ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"infed.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-17T13:07:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Humanity-against-Trump-by-m-on-Unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\\\/\",\"name\":\"Association, democracy and civil society - infed.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Humanity-against-Trump-by-m-on-Unsplash.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-27T17:31:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-17T13:07:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Humanity-against-Trump-by-m-on-Unsplash.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Humanity-against-Trump-by-m-on-Unsplash.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Association, democracy and civil society\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/\",\"name\":\"infed.org\",\"description\":\"exploring education, pedagogy and community action\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/infed.org\\\/dir\\\/welcome\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Association, democracy and civil society - infed.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Association, democracy and civil society - infed.org","og_description":"\u00a0 A set of pages exploring civil society, civic participation, the development of community and association, and the activities of educators and animateurs. ‘The strength of free peoples resides in the local community. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people’s reach; they teach people to ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/","og_site_name":"infed.org","article_modified_time":"2026-01-17T13:07:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Humanity-against-Trump-by-m-on-Unsplash.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/","url":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/","name":"Association, democracy and civil society - infed.org","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Humanity-against-Trump-by-m-on-Unsplash.jpg","datePublished":"2013-03-27T17:31:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-17T13:07:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Humanity-against-Trump-by-m-on-Unsplash.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Humanity-against-Trump-by-m-on-Unsplash.jpg","width":1500,"height":1000},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/association-democracy-and-civil-society\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Association, democracy and civil society"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/#website","url":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/","name":"infed.org","description":"exploring education, pedagogy and community action","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}