The Communitarian Movement asserts that America and other Western societies overemphasize individual rights and underemphasize collective responsibilities. In the debate between the importance of individual and community rights The New Golden Rule by Amitai Etzioni, one of the movement's founders, has emerged at the theoretical cutting edge of Commitarianism's challenge. This anthology of original essays by prominent political scientists, philosophers, and sociologists systematically advances our understanding of the movement's agenda. Using The New Golden Rule as the guidepost for organizing...

Shows that understanding political processes is critical and suggests different criteria for evaluating the interaction of state and society. This book concentrates on the fundamental assumptions needed to assess a democratic system's viability and explores the legitimation-crisis paradigm, insisting that we must move beyond its hollow rhetoric.