Loading subject…
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the deliberate, public, and non-violent refusal to obey a law or policy that one considers unjust, undertaken to bring about a change in government policy. Theorised by Thoreau and practised by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., it was defended by Rawls as a legitimate act within a nearly just society.
Civil society
the sphere of voluntary associations, institutions, and organisations that operate independently of the state, including religious groups, trade unions, the press, charities, and community organisations. Political philosophers from Hegel to Habermas have debated whether civil society is a necessary complement to state power or a site of class conflict.