The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Communitarian Agenda

Abstract

emic circles as Amitai Etzioni's latest manifesto on communitarian politics,' which has finally been published in Britain, more than two years after its initial publication in the United States of America.2 The interest in communitarianism in Britain has grown significantly over the past year. Communitarianism began as a philosophical critique of liberalism and its excesses in neo-liberal political rationality and libertarian legal philosophy.3 As such, communitarianism identified a number of salient philosophical contradictions and ambiguities, with close parallels to some European critical theory.4 As an explicit rejection of New Right politics, Etzioni, and communitarians more generally, have met with a favourable reception within the Labour Party, as it seeks to redefine itself under the leadership of Tony Blair.5 'New Labour' has seized upon The Spirit of Community as offering something which lies between the untamed 'market' and the outof-favour ideals of'socialist social solidarity'. In this book, Etzioni attempts to go beyond critique and to set out a positive vision of communitarian politics. Consequently, it is a bold, although unfinished, piece of work. It is, however, one which is trapped within a number of empirical, philosophical and political solecisms. The book comes with a very short, four-page preface to the British edition, which identifies a host of prominent people, from across the political spectrum, who claim to have been inspired by it. This should immediately alert the wary or cynical reader as to how an agenda can appeal simultaneously to such diverse interests. The book is divided into three broad