The Open Society and Its Closed Communities

About the book

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Karl Popper introduced his concept of the “open society”. Poppers focussed primarily on communism and fascism. Nowadays, communism and fascism have faded away as the primary challenges for open, democratic states, but new challenges have come to the fore. Closed communities pose a significant challenge and sometimes a threat to democratic values. What are those closed communities? This book presents a diagnosis of those closed communities, their problems, and the challenges for an open society.

About the editors

Prof. dr. Afshin Ellian and Prof. dr. Paul Cliteur are Professors of Jurisprudence at the Department of Jurisprudence, Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Theory

The Open Society and Its Closed Communities (Prof. dr. Afshin Ellian)

Challenge I: Religion

1. State Complicity and Religious Extremism: Failing the Vulnerable Individual (Prof. dr. Amos N. Guiora)

2.  TheOpen Society and Its Closed Communities: The Case of Muslims in Britain (Dr Rumy Hasan)

3.  Militant Democracy and the Clash of Ideologies (Prof. dr. Paul Cliteur)

Challenges II: Education, Online Communities and Identity Politics

4. Citizenship and Education: Finding Confidence and Light (Prof. dr. Jan Willem Sap)

5. Closed Online Communities and Freedom of Speech (Michael Klos LLM BSc)

6. Intervention – Academic Freedom and Identity Politics (Dr Joanna Williams)

List of Contributors