ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates whether friendship has any place among citizens of contemporary states. It begins with a very brief sketch of personal friendship and a longer sketch of citizenship, which distinguishes between different interpretations of the idea. Though clearly quite different, the chapter argues that there are some analogies between personal friendship and citizenship, not least a constitutive ideal of equal status. The chapter goes on to explore the notion of civic friendship, starting with Aristotle and then more recent defenses of the idea. It is argued that, pace some critics, the ideal of civic friendship makes some sense, especially on a civic republican view of citizenship, though obstacles remain, in particular how far citizens can express mutual concern in the way that personal friends do.
