ABSTRACT
Civil society in contemporary theory has been entrusted with many significant tasks: forging a democratic discourse, countering authoritarian state power, providing a platform that is alternative to the power-driven market order, reconciling notions of individual interest and the social good. Underlying all these expectations of civil society is the fairly powerful assumption that the inhabitants of civil society can enter into a dialogue with each other, or that they speak a common language. By language, as I indicate later in this chapter, I mean not only the spoken word, but shared understanding (Chandhoke 2003).
