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Hegel considered America to be a ‘civil society’ and not a state because the American constitution treats a political right as property under the rubric of private right (Avineri, p. 43, f. 27, 1972). Civil society does not have a clear definition, but in modern times it isĀ located between the state and the market where state interests and market interests are contested. In ancient Israel, or the Athenian ‘polis’, the politico-religious establishment was the state that encompassed both the market and civil society in an ethical community. Cicero introduced the Roman concept of “societas civilis” (civil society) whereby formal “contractus” (contract law) replaced conventional status, andĀ “society” replaced “community”. Exchange replaced sharing, and society became subsumed under economics rather than economics under society. The sole purpose of exchange in primitive communities was to strengthen ties of reciprocity.