 In their interpretation of the classical republicanism tradition, civic republicans are often in debate with civic humanists, with whom they are often confused (see the entry on  civic humanism).  Developed as a contemporary political doctrine, civic republicanism is broadly speaking progressive and liberal, but not without important distinctive features. Some of its policy implications diverge from mainstream liberalism in particular ways, and for this reason civic republicans are sometimes also confused with communitarians (see the entry on  communitarianism).  For the strengths or weakness of civic republicanism to be fairly assessed, both confusions should be assiduously avoided.