Civil rights in this sense refer to aspects such as legal protections and free speech, political rights to voting and standing as a representative, and social rights to education, health and welfare. Of these, the final category is the most controversial, and in most countries they have been very imperfectly realised to date. There are ‘maximal’ and ‘minimal’ positions on the extent of rights accorded to citizens (McLaughlin, 1992), with socialists advocating very extensive rights including social ones, and at the other extreme libertarians advocating the protection only of property rights.