This book explores the ideas, meaning and history of civil society. It considers the role civil society played in the 1989 revolutions and in new social movements, as well as its relationship with the state and the economy. Distinguishing between security and freedom, the book illustrates how the latter is a political issue, drawing on the writings of a wide range of political thinkers including Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach, Marx, Weber, Schmitt, Adorno and Arendt.