The first subject, however, must be
republicanism itself. Rather than attempt to
survey the long, varied, and often contested
history of republicanism – a task undertaken
recently by Oldfield (1990), Rahe (1992),
Sellers (1998) and others – I begin by trying
to distill something of the spirit and forms of
republicanism into a brief but historically
sensitive account. The second part of the
chapter then shifts the emphasis to citizenship
by explaining, from the republican
standpoint, its value. Part three takes up the
revival of interest in republicanism and
citizenship in the last quarter century or so,
and the fourth section concludes the chapter
with a defense of the continuing relevance
of the republican conception of citizenship.