ABSTRACT
The republican conception of the relations between public and private offers a potentially better basis for thinking about how to deal with difference than either the liberal model, which relegates it to the private, or the communitarian and radical cultural pluralist models, which establish one or a rainbow of ways of life in the public world. Three fundamental dimensions can be distinguished: First that of accessibility or visibility, Second, that of control or agency, third and finally, there is the dimension of interest or relevance. Feminist's in particular have targeted the public-private distinction as an instrument of the oppression of women, in deeming family and women's issues on the wrong side of the barrier for debate or regulation. Civic republicanism is based on recognising the interdependence of members of a political society, who are subject to a common authority. There is an increasing emphasis among republicans on the need for an expanded public realm of deliberation.
