September 9, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
Civil Society and the Millennium
Edited by Kumi Naidoo
People worldwide are ready to step up their efforts to insure a better life for all citizens, posits the editor of this book. Twenty-one authors contribute essays that elaborate on this idea.
Mr. Naidoo is chief executive officer of Civicus, an organization devoted to “civil society” — a broad concept that counts among its goals the eradication of poverty, the promotion of democracy, and the protection of human rights.
Contributors include Margaret Bell, a regional director of Civicus Asia Pacific, who writes that volunteers are “the richest natural resource in the world,” but who cautions that volunteers must choose to do good, as volunteering in and of itself is not synonymous with morality; Volker Then and Peter Walkenhorst of the Bertelsmann Foundation in Germany, who examine the role foundations must play in building civil society; and Liz Rykert, a consultant, who outlines a strategy for using technology to engage citizens in politics.
And at its core, Mr. Naidoo says, civil society is a political concept “because it is concerned with exercising power to advance and defend the…interests of citizens.”
Publisher: Kumarian Press, 14 Oakwood Avenue, West Hartford, Conn. 06119-2127; (860) 233-5895 or (800) 289-2664; fax (860) 233-6072; kpbooks@kpbooks.com; http://kpbooks.com; 211 pages; $15 for Civicus members, $18.95 for non-members; I.S.B.N. 1-56549-101-7.
