Over at the Liberty and Law blog I am writing a series of essays in which I examine Robert Nisbet’s ideas in light of contemporary austerity. In the first essay I reflect on how the over-reach of the administrative state is making some space for the rise of intermediary institutions to develop. In the second essay I offer a sharp contrast between the Progressive construction of community, which depends on both individualism and collectivism, and a more conservative communitarianism that stresses self-reliance rather than individualism. Parts three and four to follow.