The Citizenships

Abstract

The contemporary city is regarded as an almost trivial affair, a weak and subordinate polity with an open economy. Though recognized as a tragic site of important events, it is esteemed to have little power to affect the lives of its inhabitants for good or ill. Its leaders are largely reduced to seeking handouts from superior governments. This low estate for the city is of long standing, commencing with the Greek city-state's loss of independence. Yet the city of the Hellenistic monarchies and the Roman Empire played a vital role. As Max Weber (1962) maintained, the modern nation-state battered down the walls of the city. But society cannot do without cities and their civilizing mission. If one agrees with Aristotle that the informing principle of the polity is its conception of the good life, that conception will be found most truly embodied in the city, which alone enables its inhabitants to live a full life.