ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes an alternative liberal conception of citizenship. It aims to assess this conception and to determine its usefulness for constructing an argument in favor of public welfare provision. The chapter addresses T. H. Green's theory of rationality and self-development, and identifies the role that the state played in this development. It shows that for Green the development of the individual and the role of the state in history are integrally bound together. Green provided a new direction in liberal democratic theory by incorporating the poor into the ranks of a newly formulated citizenship, and he developed his theory of state intervention specifically around this attention to the poor. It will become clear, however, that Green's theories of freedom and citizenship specifically addressed the working poor. Thus, the state itself was only justified in terms of, its power only rested on its ability to serve the common good.
