Resurrecting Democracy

Through a case study of community organizing in the global city of London and an examination of the legacy of Saul Alinsky around the world this book assesses the construction of citizenship as an identity a performance and a shared rationality. Part I identifies and depicts a consociational populist and faithfully secular vision of democratic citizenship by reflecting on the different strands of thought and practice that feed into and help constitute community organizing. Particular attention is given to how organizing mediates the relationship between Christianity Islam and Judaism and those without a religious commitment in order to forge a common life. Part II then unpacks the implications of this vision for how we respond to the spheres in which citizenship is enacted namely civil society the sovereign nation-state and the globalized economy.