Abstract
Titles can be deceptive. Civil Society in Wales might be thought to have value only for readers with a special interest in contemporary Wales, or perhaps in asymmetrical devolution to Scotland and Wales. The content, however, will appeal to all political sociologists and political scientists who find the concept of civil society indispensable even if it is also problematic. The editors begin by discussing the contested theorisation of civil society. They then bring together thirteen original essays, covering a wide variety of components and dimensions of civil society in Wales, each of which makes clear its particular theoretical grounding. Directly and indirectly, Tocqueville, Gramsci, Putnam, Walzer and Giddens on civil society have been major influences, as have Habermas on the public sphere and Bourdieu on social capital. To these essays are added another on civil society in Scotland (by Isobel Lindsay) for purposes of comparison, and two overviews of civil society in Wales as a whole including the editors' own. There is also a brief foreword from Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government. Just about all the potentials, possibilities and pitfalls of 'civil society' are here knowingly exemplified in a single volume on a single society.
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