A civic ideal is an ideal of deliberative self‐governance. People who participate in discussing what their own groups should do are being civic. Civic venues, institutions, and habits have waned since the mid‐1990s. In the 1990s, a movement arose to restore them, under the banner of “civic renewal.” This movement was carefully nonpartisan, often impartial about specific issues, and interested in creating alternative settings that could complement such basic political institutions as Congress and elections. As the condition of democracy has worsened in recent years, this approach looks inadequate or irrelevant. The most promising sources of civic renewal now are parties and social movements that have substantive agendas, such as racial justice, and that improve civic life as a collateral benefit.

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公民复兴运动有未来吗？

公民理想是协商自治的理想。参与讨论自己的团体应该做什么的人是公民。自1990年代中期以来，市民的场所，机构和习惯开始减少。在1990年代，掀起了一场运动，以“公民更新”为旗帜。该运动是认真的无党派人士，通常在特定问题上不偏不倚，并有兴趣创造替代性环境，以补充国会和选举等基本政治制度。近年来，随着民主状况的恶化，这种方法显得不充分或不相关。现在，最有希望的公民更新来源是政党和社会运动，它们具有实质性议程，例如种族正义，并且可以改善公民生活，作为附带利益。