Beginning to think profoundly about what constitutes a state and citizenship, Aristotle as a student in Plato’s Academy (without identifying too strongly with any one Greek Polis) takes an open-minded look at what constitutes good citizenship and good rule in diverse Politeias (πολιτεία) -forms of regime in the ancient world. Without being overly prescriptive, Aristotle looks for a thread in just states, states that can reach the Telos (τέλος) or ends of collective trust, friendship, and self-perfection. He sees states’ sustainable limits as naturally bound by bonds of moral understanding between its members, not by the geography of their dominion. These can become strained, the more imperial and open a state becomes.

Conversely, true freedom as a citizen comes from participating in the civic society, taking offices and positions, in other words, service. Combining the individual and the state like Plato, Aristotle sees political participation as a mark of self-actualisation, and refusal to engage and only pursue one’s own appetites under a state as the mark of an animal, a lower being. Hence the birthing of the phrase “man is a political animal” (ὁ ἄνθρωπος φύσει πολιτικὸν ζῷον). In Politeia, democracy is not held above a virtuous monarchy or aristocracy as Aristotle’s one ideal regime – however, Aristotle’s focus on the rule of law being able to remedy the strife and destabilisation of arbitrary rule makes a great contribution to ideas of equal citizenship. The aggregated judgement over time of many people must surely be wiser than the judgement of any one man, no matter how thoughtful and virtuous. So too, Aristotle’s ideas of engaged citizenship frame modern democracy. Consider President John. F. Kennedy’s rousing “Ask not what your country can do for you…” in his 1961 inauguration.