Citizenship and Community in the 1990s: Local Roots, Social Responsibility
The notion of community has changed both in meaning and in status with the evolution of capitalism, and the passing of different democratic regimes. Most of those who founded the idea of democracy viewed community negatively, but it nevertheless came to be associated with the nation, and followed along in train with the consolidation of states and of the economic powers of the 19th Century. Three European wars were then fought and the idea of community was renounced to become re-activated in the 1950-1960s, as the foundation of minority groups rights. Finally, changes in the organization of Welfare States and in production, under the effects of a wave of capitalist expansion which began in the 1980s, provided the notion of community with a new definition, the essential place within which links between citizens are rooted.