The concept of civil society has a long history. In classical antiquity, the societas civilis was a synonym for the coexistence of free citizens. The modern reception, however, goes back to Tocqueville, who in De la démocratie en Amérique described the dynamics of American civil society with its diversity of voluntary associations. His description of the socially and politically engaged clubs and associations in the United States still provides the blueprint for the concept of a civil society in which social self-organization is based on civic commitment that neither conforms to the calculations of the market nor unquestioningly submits to the sovereignty claims of the state.