28 October 2010

To delimit the reach or to intensify it

Saudi Arabia has almost no civil society. There is hardly any vital civic life between the government and the mosque. In the biblical regime the function of sanctity is to delimit the reach of commerce and government. In the Arab world the function of sanctity is to intensify the reach of commerce and government. In the one case, civil society flourishes; in the other case, civil society is squelched. 

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