title: Political Theory, Values and Public Health.
abstract: This article offers some general criticisms of the idea that any political theory can legitimate public health interventions, and then some particular criticisms of Civic Republicanism as a political theory for public health. Civic Republicanism, I argue, legitimizes liberty-infringing public health interventions by demanding high levels of civic engagement in framing and reviewing them; to demand such engagement in pursuit of such a baseline value as health will leave insufficient civic energy for the pursuit of higher values.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, Yale University.
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Latham