ABSTRACT
I. Negotiating the Boundaries of Civil Society As we state in the first chapter, the term civil society refers either to the character of the national political community or to a separate sphere of voluntary associations within the space existing between the individual and the national government. In the first instance, a civil society refers to national political institutions that have as their main objective a commitment to uphold the rule of law on behalf of a shared notion of the common good. The common good-in addition to referring to the need for the government to provide important items such as economic well-being, public safety, public health, and educationincludes the provision of basic rights such as speech, association, freedom of conscience and religion, due process, protection of private property, and so on.
