The Open Society in Theory and Practice

The meaning of "the open society" has been an important theme in political discussion in the West in recent decades. In the present volume, seventeen political theorists from nine countries analyze and evaluate different conceptions of the open society and the obstacles and difficulties in the way of achieving such a society in history. The papers presented here in revised form were originally delivered to an international conference of political theorists made possible by a grant from The Rockefeller Foundation to the University of Virginia and held at the Foundation's Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Italy from June 28 to July 4, 1972. A lively diversity of philosophical perspectives gives to the volume the quality of a conversation regarding the nature of openness and closure in the individual and society and the principal trends toward greater openness, as well as pressures for closure, in the contemporary world. The participants seek to demonstrate the relevance of political philosophy to current political practice. Includes essays by Dante Germino, Alexander Passerin d'Entreves, Anthony Parel, Ali A. Mazrui, Leon Bramson, Melvin Richter, Klaus von Beyme, John H. Hallowell, C.L. Ten, George Kateb, Ehud Sprinzak, Marek Sobolewski, Bernard Crick, David Spitz, Anthony Storr, Henry S. Kariel and John Rodman.