In their claims-making, civil society actors make use of a new vision of citizenship, one based on concepts of participation, democracy, decentralisation and rights. This article uncovers the discursive instruments of this vision in the discourse of community groups in Quebec. In particular, the analysis reveals that the location for defining the general interest has shifted from the state to civil society. This de-centring of the creation of society’s values has consequences for the legitimacy of the political realm itself and leads us to wonder about the symbolic and institutional spaces in which a “shared world” will be created.