50

The most radical aspect of American neo-communitarianism is its attempt to reconstruct the very bases of republicanism from the liberal recognition of the right to be dilferent, with all the problems that this entails. The result is an extreme tension between the recognition of this right and the respect for republican values. This paper which is an extract of my Apology of Citizenship to be published by Editions du Cerf tries to confront the French conception of citizenship with the positions of the American neo-communitarianism and with those of Jürgen Habermas in Faktizität und Geltung and in several contributions to the debate on neo-communitarianism.