Abstract: The long republican tradition is characterized by a conception of freedom as non-domination, which offers an alternative, both to the negative view of freedom as non-interference and to the positive view of freedom as self-mastery. The first part of the book traces the rise and decline of the conception, displays its many attractions and makes a case for why it should still be regarded as a central political ideal. The second part of the book looks at the sorts of political and civil institutions that would be required in a society in which freedom as non-domination is systematically fostered. It outlines the causes and policies, the constitutional and democratic forms, and the regulatory controls that a republican state ought to endorse. And it argues for a vision of the state's relation to civil society in which there is no pretence of doing without widespread civility and trust; the argument is that the state ought, at once, to foster and build on such extra-political foundations.

Keywords: civil society, community, constitution, democracy, freedom, republicanism, government, institutions, liberalism, regulation