Citizenship

This article is about being a member of a country. For other uses, see Citizen (disambiguation).
"Nationalities" redirects here. For the film, see Civic Duty (film). For other uses, see Nationality.

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a member of a country. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless.

Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English[1] – notably in international law – although the term is sometimes understood as denoting a person's membership of a nation (a large ethnic group).[2] In some countries, e.g. the United States, the United Kingdom, nationality and citizenship can have different meanings (for more information, see Nationality#Nationality versus citizenship).

Determining factors

Further information: Nationality law

A person can be a citizen for several reasons. Usually citizenship of the place of birth is automatic; in other cases an application may be required. Each country has their own policies and regulations which change the criteria of who is issued citizenship.

In many cases both jus solis and jus sanguinis hold; citizenship either by place or parentage (or of course both).

History

Polis

Main article: Polis

Many thinkers point to the concept of citizenship beginning in the early city-states of ancient Greece, although others see it as primarily a modern phenomenon dating back only a few hundred years and, for mankind, that the concept of citizenship arose with the first laws. Polis meant both the political assembly of the city-state as well as the entire society.[6] Citizenship has generally been identified as a western phenomenon.[7] There is a general view that citizenship in ancient times was a simpler relation than modern forms of citizenship, although this view has come under scrutiny.[8] The relation of citizenship has not been a fixed or static relation, but constantly changed within each society, and that according to one view, citizenship might "really have worked" only at select periods during certain times, such as when the Athenian politician Solon made reforms in the early Athenian state.[9]

Historian Geoffrey Hosking in his 2005 Modern Scholar lecture course suggested that citizenship in ancient Greece arose from an appreciation for the importance of freedom.[10] Hosking explained:

It can be argued that this growth of slavery was what made Greeks particularly conscious of the value of freedom. After all, any Greek farmer might fall into debt and therefore might become a slave, at almost any time ... When the Greeks fought together, they fought in order to avoid being enslaved by warfare, to avoid being defeated by those who might take them into slavery. And they also arranged their political institutions so as to remain free men.
— Geoffrey Hosking, 2005[10]
Geoffrey Hosking suggests that fear of being enslaved was a central motivating force for the development of the Greek sense of citizenship. Sculpture: a Greek woman being served by a slave-child.

Slavery permitted slaveowners to have substantial free time, and enabled participation in public life.[10] Polis citizenship was marked by exclusivity. Inequality of status was widespread; citizens had a higher status than non-citizens, such as women, slaves or barbarians.[11][12] The first form of citizenship was based on the way people lived in the ancient Greek times, in small-scale organic communities of the polis. Citizenship was not seen as a separate activity from the private life of the individual person, in the sense that there was not a distinction between public and private life. The obligations of citizenship were deeply connected into one's everyday life in the polis. These small-scale organic communities were generally seen as a new development in world history, in contrast to the established ancient civilizations of Egypt or Persia, or the hunter-gatherer bands elsewhere. From the viewpoint of the ancient Greeks, a person's public life was not separated from their private life, and Greeks did not distinguish between the two worlds according to the modern western conception. The obligations of citizenship were deeply connected with everyday life. To be truly human, one had to be an active citizen to the community, which Aristotle famously expressed: "To take no part in the running of the community's affairs is to be either a beast or a god!" This form of citizenship was based on obligations of citizens towards the community, rather than rights given to the citizens of the community. This was not a problem because they all had a strong affinity with the polis; their own destiny and the destiny of the community were strongly linked. Also, citizens of the polis saw obligations to the community as an opportunity to be virtuous, it was a source of honour and respect. In Athens, citizens were both ruler and ruled, important political and judicial offices were rotated and all citizens had the right to speak and vote in the political assembly.

Roman ideas

In the Roman Empire, citizenship expanded from small-scale communities to the entire empire. Romans realized that granting citizenship to people from all over the empire legitimized Roman rule over conquered areas. Roman citizenship was no longer a status of political agency; it had been reduced to a judicial safeguard and the expression of rule and law.[13] Rome carried forth Greek ideas of citizenship such as the principles of equality under the law, civic participation in government, and notions that "no one citizen should have too much power for too long",[14] but Rome offered relatively generous terms to its captives, including chances for lesser forms of citizenship.[14] If Greek citizenship was an "emancipation from the world of things",[15] the Roman sense increasingly reflected the fact that citizens could act upon material things as well as other citizens, in the sense of buying or selling property, possessions, titles, goods. One historian explained:

The person was defined and represented through his actions upon things; in the course of time, the term property came to mean, first, the defining characteristic of a human or other being; second, the relation which a person had with a thing; and third, the thing defined as the possession of some person.
— J. G. A. Pocock, 1988[16]

Roman citizenship reflected a struggle between the upper-class patrician interests against the lower-order working groups known as the plebeian class.[14] A citizen came to be understood as a person "free to act by law, free to ask and expect the law's protection, a citizen of such and such a legal community, of such and such a legal standing in that community".[17] Citizenship meant having rights to have possessions, immunities, expectations, which were "available in many kinds and degrees, available or unavailable to many kinds of person for many kinds of reason".[17] And the law, itself, was a kind of bond uniting people.[18] Roman citizenship was more impersonal, universal, multiform, having different degrees and applications.[18]

Middle Ages

During the European Middle Ages, citizenship was usually associated with cities and towns, and applied mainly to middle class folk. Titles such as burgher, grand burgher (German Großbürger) and bourgeoisie denoted political affiliation and identity in relation to a particular locality, as well as membership in a mercantile or trading class; thus, individuals of respectable means and socioeconomic status were interchangeable with citizens.

During this era, members of the nobility had a range of privileges above commoners (see aristocracy), though political upheavals and reforms, beginning most prominently with the French Revolution, abolished privileges and created an egalitarian concept of citizenship.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, people transitioned from being subjects of a king or queen to being citizens of a city and later to a nation.[19]:p.161 Each city had its own law, courts, and independent administration.[20] And being a citizen often meant being subject to the city's law in addition to having power in some instances to help choose officials.[20] City dwellers who had fought alongside nobles in battles to defend their cities were no longer content with having a subordinate social status, but demanded a greater role in the form of citizenship.[21] Membership in guilds was an indirect form of citizenship in that it helped their members succeed financially.[22] The rise of citizenship was linked to the rise of republicanism, according to one account, since independent citizens meant that kings had less power.[23] Citizenship became an idealized, almost abstract, concept,[9] and did not signify a submissive relation with a lord or count, but rather indicated the bond between a person and the state in the rather abstract sense of having rights and duties.[9]

Modern times

The modern idea of citizenship still respects the idea of political participation, but it is usually done through "elaborate systems of political representation at a distance" such as representative democracy.[8] Modern citizenship is much more passive; action is delegated to others; citizenship is often a constraint on acting, not an impetus to act.[8] Nevertheless, citizens are usually aware of their obligations to authorities, and are aware that these bonds often limit what they can do.[8]

Different senses

Many theorists suggest that there are two opposing conceptions of citizenship: an economic one, and a political one. For further information, see History of citizenship.

Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and duties. In this sense, citizenship was described as "a bundle of rights -- primarily, political participation in the life of the community, the right to vote, and the right to receive certain protection from the community, as well as obligations."[24] Citizenship is seen by most scholars as culture-specific, in the sense that the meaning of the term varies considerably from culture to culture, and over time.[8] In China, for example, there is a cultural politics of citizenship which could be called "peopleship".[25] How citizenship is understood depends on the person making the determination. The relation of citizenship has never been fixed or static, but constantly changes within each society. While citizenship has varied considerably throughout history, and within societies over time, there are some common elements but they vary considerably as well. As a bond, citizenship extends beyond basic kinship ties to unite people of different genetic backgrounds. It usually signifies membership in a political body. It is often based on, or was a result of, some form of military service or expectation of future service. It usually involves some form of political participation, but this can vary from token acts to active service in government. Citizenship is a status in society. It is an ideal state as well. It generally describes a person with legal rights within a given political order. It almost always has an element of exclusion, meaning that some people are not citizens, and that this distinction can sometimes be very important, or not important, depending on a particular society. Citizenship as a concept is generally hard to isolate intellectually and compare with related political notions, since it relates to many other aspects of society such as the family, military service, the individual, freedom, religion, ideas of right and wrong, ethnicity, and patterns for how a person should behave in society.[19] When there are many different groups within a nation, citizenship may be the only real bond which unites everybody as equals without discrimination—it is a "broad bond" linking "a person with the state" and gives people a universal identity as a legal member of a specific nation.[26]

Modern citizenship has often been looked at as two competing underlying ideas:[27]

Scholars suggest that the concept of citizenship contains many unresolved issues, sometimes called tensions, existing within the relation, that continue to reflect uncertainty about what citizenship is supposed to mean.[9] Some unresolved issues regarding citizenship include questions about what is the proper balance between duties and rights.[9] Another is a question about what is the proper balance between political citizenship versus social citizenship.[9] Some thinkers see benefits with people being absent from public affairs, since too much participation such as revolution can be destructive, yet too little participation such as total apathy can be problematic as well.[9] Citizenship can be seen as a special elite status, and it can also be seen as a democratizing force and something that everybody has; the concept can include both senses.[9] According to sociologist Arthur Stinchcombe, citizenship is based on the extent that a person can control one's own destiny within the group in the sense of being able to influence the government of the group.[19]:p.150 One last distinction within citizenship is the so-called consent descent distinction, and this issue addresses whether citizenship is a fundamental matter determined by a person choosing to belong to a particular nation––by his or her consent––or is citizenship a matter of where a person was born––that is, by his or her descent.[11]

International

Some intergovernmental organizations have extended the concept and terminology associated with citizenship to the international level,[29] where it is applied to the totality of the citizens of their constituent countries combined. Citizenship at this level is a secondary concept, with rights deriving from national citizenship.

European Union

The Maastricht Treaty introduced the concept of citizenship of the European Union. Article 17 (1) of the Treaty on European Union[30] stated that:

Citizenship of the Union is hereby established. Every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship.[31]

An agreement known as the amended EC Treaty[31] established certain minimal rights for European Union citizens. Article 12 of the amended EC Treaty guaranteed a general right of non-discrimination within the scope of the Treaty. Article 18 provided a limited right to free movement and residence in Member States other than that of which the European Union citizen is a national. Articles 18-21 and 225 provide certain political rights.

Union citizens have also extensive rights to move in order to exercise economic activity in any of the Member States[32] which predate the introduction of Union citizenship.[33]

Commonwealth

The concept of "Commonwealth Citizenship" has been in place ever since the establishment of the Commonwealth of Nations. As with the EU, one holds Commonwealth citizenship only by being a citizen of a Commonwealth member state. This form of citizenship offers certain privileges within some Commonwealth countries:

Although Ireland was excluded from the Commonwealth in 1949 because it declared itself a republic, Ireland is generally treated as if it were still a member. Legislation often specifically provides for equal treatment between Commonwealth countries and Ireland and refers to "Commonwealth countries and Ireland".[34] Ireland's citizens are not classified as foreign nationals in the United Kingdom.

Canada departed from the principle of nationality being defined in terms of allegiance in 1921. In 1935 the Irish Free State was the first to introduce its own citizenship. However, Irish citizens were still treated as subjects of the Crown, and they are still not regarded as foreign, even though Ireland is not a member of the Commonwealth.[35] The Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947 provided for a distinct Canadian Citizenship, automatically conferred upon most individuals born in Canada, with some exceptions, and defined the conditions under which one could become a naturalized citizen. The concept of Commonwealth citizenship was introduced in 1948 in the British Nationality Act 1948. Other dominions adopted this principle such as New Zealand, by way of the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act of 1948.

Subnational

Citizenship most usually relates to membership of the nation state, but the term can also apply at the subnational level. Subnational entities may impose requirements, of residency or otherwise, which permit citizens to participate in the political life of that entity, or to enjoy benefits provided by the government of that entity. But in such cases, those eligible are also sometimes seen as "citizens" of the relevant state, province, or region. An example of this is how the fundamental basis of Swiss citizenship is citizenship of an individual commune, from which follows citizenship of a canton and of the Confederation. Another example is Åland where the residents enjoy a special provincial citizenship within Finland, hembygdsrätt.

The United States has a federal system in which a person is a citizen of their specific state of residence, such as New Jersey or California, as well as a citizen of the United States. State constitutions may grant certain rights above and beyond what are granted under the United States Constitution and may impose their own obligations including the sovereign right of taxation and military service; each state maintains at least one military force subject to national militia transfer service, the state's national guard, and some states maintain a second military force not subject to nationalization.

Diagram of relationship between; Citizens, Politicians + Laws

Education

"Active citizenship" is the philosophy that citizens should work towards the betterment of their community through economic participation, public, volunteer work, and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens. In this vein, schools in some countries provide citizenship education (subject). By the time children reach secondary education there is an emphasis on such unconventional subjects to be included in academic curriculum. While the diagram on citizenship to the right is rather facile and depth-less, it is simplified to explain the general model of citizenship that is taught to many secondary school pupils. The idea behind this model within education is to instill in young pupils that their actions (i.e. their vote) have an impact on collective citizenship and thus in turn them.


United Kingdom

Citizenship is offered as a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) course in many schools in the United Kingdom. As well as teaching knowledge about democracy, parliament, government, the justice system, human rights and the UK's relations with the wider world, students participate in active citizenship, often involving a social action or social enterprise in their local community.

Ireland

It is taught in Ireland as an exam subject for the Junior Certificate. It is known as Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE). A new Leaving Certificate exam subject with the working title 'Politics & Society' is being developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and is expected to be introduced to the curriculum sometime after 2012.[40]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Examples: Philippines,[3] United States[4]

References

  1. ↑ Votruba, Martin. "Nationality, ethnicity in Slovakia.". Slovak Studies Program. University of Pittsburgh.
  2. ↑ Weis, Paul (1979). Nationality and Statelessness in International Law. Sijthoff & Noordhoff. p. 3. ISBN 9789028603295.
  3. ↑ Article IV of the Philippine Constitution.
  4. ↑ 8 USC Part I - Nationality at Birth and Collective Naturalization8 USC Part I - Nationality at Birth and Collective Naturalization
  5. ↑ UK government Web site: Bishops act to tackle sham marriages - New UK Border Agency approved guidance for clergy should help prevent weddings for visas, 11 April 2011
  6. ↑ Pocock 1998, p. 32.
  7. ↑ Zarrow 1997, p. 4.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Isin, Engin F.; Bryan S. Turner, eds. (2002). Handbook of Citizenship Studies. Chapter 5 -- David Burchell -- Ancient Citizenship and its Inheritors; Chapter 6 -- Rogers M. Smith -- Modern Citizenship. London: Sage. pp. 89–104, 105. ISBN 0-7619-6858-X.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Heater, Derek (2004). A Brief History of Citizenship. New York City: New York University Press. p. 157. ISBN 0-8147-3671-8.
  10. 1 2 3 Hosking, Geoffrey (2005). Epochs of European Civilization: Antiquity to Renaissance. Lecture 3: Ancient Greece. United Kingdom: The Modern Scholar via Recorded Books. pp. 1, 2 (tracks). ISBN 1-4025-8360-5.
  11. 1 2 Hebert (editor), Yvonne M. (2002). Citizenship in transformation in Canada. chapters by Veronica Strong-Boag, Yvonne Hebert, Lori Wilkinson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 3, 4, 5. ISBN 0-8020-0850-X.
  12. ↑ Pocock 1998, p. 33.
  13. ↑ See Civis romanus sum.
  14. 1 2 3 Hosking, Geoffrey (2005). Epochs of European Civilization: Antiquity to Renaissance. Lecture 5: Rome as a city-state. United Kingdom: The Modern Scholar via Recorded Books. pp. tracks 1 through 9. ISBN 1-4025-8360-5.
  15. ↑ Pocock 1998, p. 35.
  16. ↑ Pocock 1998, p. 36.
  17. 1 2 Pocock 1998, p. 37.
  18. 1 2 Pocock 1998, p. 38.
  19. 1 2 3 Taylor, David (1994). Bryan Turner; Peter Hamilton, eds. Citizenship: Critical Concepts. United States and Canada: Routledge. pp. 476 pages total;. ISBN 0-415-07036-8.
  20. 1 2 Weber 1998, p. 44.
  21. ↑ Weber 1998, p. 46.
  22. ↑ Weber 1998, pp. 46-47.
  23. ↑ Zarrow 1997, p. 3.
  24. ↑ Virginia Leary (2000). "Citizenship. Human rights, and Diversity". In Alan C. Cairns, John C. Courtney, Peter MacKinnon, Hans J. Michelmann, David E. Smith. Citizenship, Diversity, and Pluralism: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 247–264. ISBN 978-0-7735-1893-3. ... The concept of 'citizenship' has long acquired the connotation of a bundle of rights... .
  25. ↑ Xiao, Y (2013). "China's peopleship education: Conceptual issues and policy analysis". Citizenship Teaching and Learning, 8(1), 21-39.
  26. ↑ Gross, Feliks (1999). Citizenship and ethnicity: the growth and development of a democratic multiethnic institution. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. xi, xii, xiii,4. ISBN 0-313-30932-9.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Beiner (editor), Ronald (1995). Theorizing Citizenship. J. G. A. Pocock, Michael Ignatieff. USA: State University of New York, Albany. pp. 29, 54. ISBN 0-7914-2335-2.
  28. 1 2 3 Oldfield, Adrian (1994). Bryan Turner; Peter Hamilton, eds. Citizenship: Critical Concepts. United States and Canada: Routledge. pp. 476 pages total; source: The Political Quarterly, 1990 vol.61, pp. 177–187; in the book, pages 188+.
  29. ↑ Daniele Archibugi, "The Global Commonwealth of Citizens. Toward Cosmopolitan Democracy", Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2008
  30. ↑ Note: the consolidated version.
  31. 1 2 Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union
  32. ↑ Note: Articles 39, 43, 49 EC.
  33. ↑ Violaine Hacker, « Citoyenneté culturelle et politique européenne des médias : entre compétitivité et promotion des valeurs », NATIONS, CULTURES ET ENTREPRISES EN EUROPE, sous la direction de Gilles Rouet, Collection Local et Global, L'Harmattan, Paris, pp. 163-184
  34. ↑ The Commonwealth Countries and Ireland (Immunities and Privileges) (Amendment) Order 2005
  35. ↑ Murray v Parkes [1942] All ER 123.
  36. ↑ "National curriculum". British Government, Department for Children, Schools and Families. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  37. ↑ "NAFWC 13/2003 Personal and Social Education (PSE) and Work-Related Education (WRE) in the Basic Curriculum. Education (WRE) in the Basic Curriculum.". Welsh Assembly Government. 15 June 2003. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
  38. ↑ "Personal and Social Education Framework: Key Stages 1 to 4 in Wales". Welsh Assembly Government. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
  39. ↑ "Modern Studies Association". Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  40. ↑ http://www.ncca.ie/en/Publications/Reports/Senior_Cycle_Politics_and_Society_Report_on_the_consultation.pdf

Further reading

External links

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