ABSTRACT
What makes any society civil is the subject of much confusion. Most observers hold that any society, as a (conventionally designated) totality of relations, has (may have, should have) a variously defined civil sphere - it has a civil society. This I shall call the liberal view of civil society. As an alternative, I hold that any society worthy of the title has an inclusive structure, a recursive pattern of ruled relations among agents and institutions — thanks to this structure, it is a civil society. This view has an ancient pedigree; I shall call it the republican view.
