Republicanism: The Practice of Conceptualization

Abstract

After the revival of republicanism in the second half of the 20th century by representatives of the Cambridge School of political thought, it continues to be one of the most sought-after areas in modern political philosophy. However, despite its relatively wide popularity, there are a number of serious conceptual problems in its understanding. One of them is the existence of a coherent tradition of republican thought. To solve this problem, it is necessary first of all to turn to the rich experience of conceptualizing republicanism, which became the subject of the proposed article. The author examines the meaning put by modern republican theorists into the concept of “republicanism”, as well as how their views are consistent with each other. Special attention is paid to the history of the term “republicanism”, as well as the question of the relationship between the terms “republicanism” and “neo-republicanism”. A number of regional and synthetic approaches to understanding Republicanism are analyzed in detail. The author shows that modern republican theory is rather heterogeneous and contradictory. Representatives of different approaches sometimes seriously disagree on the key points of its conceptual content, which significantly complicates the development of an understanding of republicanism that would allow us to speak of it as having an internal unity of political thought. In the conclusion, based on the data obtained, an attempt has also been made to identify topics that overlap in the approaches considered, which can become a starting point for further research in this area.