Such a multi-tier construction of citizenship is particularly important these
days when neo-liberal states redene and reprivatize their tasks and obligations.
It also enables us to raise the question of the relationship between
‘the community’ and the state and how this affects people’s citizenship.
The debates in the literature between the ‘liberals’ and the ‘communitarians’
(see, for example, Avineri and Shalit, 1992; Daly, 1993; Nimni,
1996; Phillips, 1993) and the ‘republicans’ (Peled, 1992; Roche, 1987;
Sandel, 1982; Oldeld, 1990) relate to these issues. The article examines
some of the implications of this debate for notions of social rights and
social difference.