totalPolitics: The intellectual origins of the 'big society'

Jesse Norman, Conservative MP for Hereford, presents his own take on David Cameron's "big society" in a totalPolitics article published today:

...what about the ‘big society’? David Cameron has often remarked that “there is such a thing as society”. But that seems to imply that society is something over and above individual people, which hardly places it within the Conservatives’ libertarian tradition. On the other hand, the follow-up - “...it’s just not the same thing as the state” - hardly suggests a new Tory paternalism. So where does the big society fit in?

A useful read, putting current Conservative policy and ideology into a long-range perspective. Take a look!