Recent political developments in Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Algeria, among others, suggest the possible emergence of an indigenous Islamic path of democratic formation. However, the conventional western interpretations, of religion, and in particular of Islam, leave little room for the recognition of the actual, complex development of such Islamic countries. Defining Islam and modernity as two more or less incompatible phenomena fails to recognize the potentialities of developing modern democratic Islamic societies with their cultural elements and particularities. Many Muslim countries themselves fail to see or are unwilling to recognize their own civil societies and their dynamic potentialities and to accept, in Locke's term, ‘the sovereignty of civil society’. Although the notion of a traditional civil society in the Islamic countries is controversial, I contend that neither individualism nor democratic institutions have been or are necessary for a civil society to exist. The basis of a civil society is the existence of influential civil groups and their institutions that can, through established mechanisms counterbalance state power. Analyzing civil society in Muslim countries requires that we recognize Islam not only as a religion, but also as a political theory and the major source of a legitimization of political power.

This paper looks at why the Franciscan order took part in the diffusion of optics, more than other medieval organisation, both religious and secular. First, clues of this social asymmetry are given. Then, an explanation is put forward: 1. An initial asymmetry existed, in the fact that Grosseteste's optics was known in the Franciscan studium of Oxford; 2. Since that date, optics spread among the order through a network effect; 3. The homophilia that presided over the conventual libraries' purchasing policy finally explains why other similarly structured contemporary organizations, similarly structured, took less of an interest in optics. In spite of an obvious topical connection, this explanation differs deeply from the analysis that has been applied to the Puritans' and Jesuits' scientific activity in XVIIth and XVIIIth century classical Europe. It does not appeal to the heavy hypothesis of ethos.

[Lt ] Plus la construction typifiée est anonyme, plus elle est détachée de l'unicité de l'individu en cause et moins les aspects de sa personnalité et du modèle de son comportement entrent dans la typification en tant que pertinents pour le but qu'on se propose, raison pour laquelle le type a été construit [Gt ]

Alfred Schutz

Attempts have been made to bring economics and sociology together, in particular when they are concerned with the modelling of decision-making and human rationality. However, an enduring epistemological obstacle remains: that of the classical distinction between raison d'être and raison de connaître. This paper examines some of the conceptual and practical problems raised by the nomological aim of econometrics.

Honesty and trust affect the functioning of the state and the market, and, conversely, the quality of formal rules and institutions has an impact on interpersonal trust. This paper organizes and critiques research on the relationship between trust and government; it stresses the mutual interaction between trust and democracy and the impact of corruption. Given this context, the concluding section discusses the transition process in post-socialist countries, highlighting the tensions between interpersonal trust and trust in public institutions.

Contrary to a number of his contemporaries, Montesquieu did not consider that an inescapable antagonism existed between the republican government, based on the virtue of citizens and their dedication to the public good, and commercial activity, which was aimed at material interests. Well aware of the recurrent historical phenomenon of commercial republics, Montesquieu detected various mechanisms by which the commercial spirit could in fact encourage the formation of the psychological mindframe and behaviour necessary for republics. These included, in particular, a respect for rules, a distrust of emotions, a taste for individual independence acquired through work, and allegiance to a noncapricious government.