Concerning the debate about civil society

Concerning the debate about civil society questions B. Flyvbjerg's assertion (Sotsis, 2000-2) that in debate between J. Habermas and M. Foucault the latter is right. According to Kalinin, Foucault had in fact described a stage of transition to civil society, while Habermas is more exact in his terms. Habermas though proceeds from a mistaken I. Kant's thesis regarding imperative nature of moral legislation. Since they are both rightly asserting that civil society is based on universal morals, the imperativity thesis leads to the idea of self-production of such society, which never occurs. Leaning on M. Weber, author argues that to create civil society a technical key is needed in form of developed institutions with ballot procedures.