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Niall Ferguson asks what constitutes a vibrant and independent civil society.

The historian Niall Ferguson examines institutions outside the political, economic and legal realms, whose primary purpose is to preserve and transmit particular knowledge and values.

In a lecture delivered at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he asks if the modern state is quietly killing civil society in the Western world?

And what can non-Western societies do to build a vibrant civil society?

Producer: Jane Beresford.

53 minutes

Last on

Sat 14 Jul 201218:05GMT
BBC World Service Online

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Broadcasts

  • Tue 10 Jul 201222:05GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Sat 14 Jul 201218:05GMT
    BBC World Service Online

The Reith Lectures on Radio 4

The Reith Lectures on Radio 4

Archive recordings from the BBC's flagship annual lecture series going back to 1948