id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-005385-hswyus24	Baehr, Peter	On the Edge of Solidarity: The Burqa and Public Life	2012-08-21		.txt	text/plain	8590	428	54	It argues that, in political terms, the wearing of the burqa and niqab is inconsistent with Western norms of equality, the backbone of the citizenship ideal; and that, in social terms, the full veil erects a partition to interpersonal understanding and reciprocity. Invented in the ancient Greek world, the concept of "public" has assumed since its birth a host of connotations: common property and the common good; a realm in which free and equal men are able to deliberate on and decide political affairs; a place of discourse rather than labor; the primacy of law over arbitrary rule; a domain in which the ruler is considered to be a kind of custodian or guardian of the commonweal rather than a seigneur or lord; a region in which citizens may find distinction and glory; an area accessible to the many; a vehicle of composite opinion; a community pursuing a joint purpose (Habermas [1962 (Habermas [ ] 1999 Oakeshott 1975: 149, 207, 218.) Each of these meanings has, in turn, taken on its own inflections; for instance, Robert Nisbet's (1982: 249-50 ) distinction between public opinion ("the sturdy filter of long-shared values and traditions") and popular opinion (the transient froth of mood and fashion).	./cache/cord-005385-hswyus24.txt	./txt/cord-005385-hswyus24.txt