Republican Theory in Political Thought: Virtuous or Virtual?(Review) (book review)

By Bill Brugger. New York: St. Martin's, 1999. 211p. $59.95.

At a time when communitarians are moderating their once radical critique of liberalism by an embrace of individual rights and liberals are calling for more robust community, Bill Brugger offers to satisfy both groups with "republicanism." The title refers to an old paradox of republican self-government: The people are both sovereign and subjects, rulers and ruled. Since immoderate and partisan appetites sometimes move us toward domination and license, we must somehow rule over ourselves. We can do so in a ...

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