Civil Disobedience

To perform an act of civil disobedience under present circumstances is an exercise in uncommon sense. Yet, what is the significance, if any, of such action? As civil disobedience becomes an accepted part of the political culture what role do figures like Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. retain for global citizens? Further, what role might civil disobedience play in the politics of representative democracies as traditional forms of political affiliation diminish and power 'leaks' from the nation state? If traditional politics, conducted via party machines has surrendered innovation and vision to the interests of global corporations, what are the consequences for political life? In Civil Disobedience, Lawrence Quill proposes a fundamental reappraisal of civil disobedience (and civil obedience) in order to address these and other questions confronting citizens in late modernity.