Self‐Defeating Civic Republicanism*

The author discusses the recent attempt by constitutional theorists to develop a theory about the empowerment of political community through law. Having outlined the civic republican position, he then examines Ackerman's example of the difference between marriage and love, as an analogy for law and politics, or in republican terminology, “constitutional” and “ordinary” politics respectively. These oppositions are set up around the purchase they offer to the question of community. In turning Ackerman's example against him, his objective is to show that the language of law inhibits rather than facilitates the quest for community.