Different senses of citizenship Citizenship status, under
social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities. 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."
[1] 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.
[2] 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.
[3] 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.
[4]
Modern citizenship has often been looked at as two competing underlying ideas:
[5]
- The liberal-individualist or sometimes liberal conception of citizenship suggests that citizens should have entitlements necessary for human dignity.[6] It assumes people act for the purpose of enlightened self-interest. According to this viewpoint, citizens are sovereign, morally autonomous beings with duties to pay taxes, obey the law, engage in business transactions, and defend the nation if it comes under attack,[6] but are essentially passive politically,[5] and their primary focus is on economic betterment. This idea began to appear around the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and became stronger over time, according to one view.[7] According to this formulation, the state exists for the benefit of citizens and has an obligation to respect and protect the rights of citizens, including civil rights and political rights.[7] It was later that so-called social rights became part of the obligation for the state.[7]
- The civic-republican or sometimes classical or civic humanist conception of citizenship emphasizes man's political nature, and sees citizenship as an active process, not a passive state or legal marker.[5] It is relatively more concerned that government will interfere with popular places to practice citizenship in the public sphere. Citizenship means being active in government affairs.[6] According to one view, most people today live as citizens according to the liberal-individualist conception but wished they lived more according to the civic-republican ideal.[5] An ideal citizen is one who exhibits "good civic behavior".[7] Free citizens and a republic government are "mutually interrelated."[7] Citizenship suggested a commitment to "duty and civic virtue".[7]
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.
[7] Some unresolved issues regarding citizenship include questions about what is the proper balance between
duties and
rights.
[7] Some see these two aspects of citizenship as incompatible, such that
social rights have gone too far with not enough emphasis on
duties citizens owe to the state.
[7] Another is a question about what is the proper balance between
political citizenship versus
social citizenship.
[7] 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.
[7] 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.
[7] According to
political scientist 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.
[3]: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.
[8]
[edit] International citizenship
In recent years, some
intergovernmental organizations have extended the concept and terminology associated with citizenship to the international level,
[9] 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.
[edit] Commonwealth citizenship
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:
- Some such countries do not require tourist visas of citizens of other Commonwealth countries.
- In some Commonwealth countries resident citizens of other Commonwealth countries are entitled to political rights, e.g., the right to vote in local and national elections and in some cases even the right to stand for election.
- In some instances the right to work in any position (including the civil service) is granted, except for certain specific positions, such as in the defense departments, Governor-General or President or Prime Minister.
Although
Ireland left the Commonwealth in 1949, it is often treated as if it were a member, with references being made in legal documents to 'the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland', and its citizens are not classified as foreign nationals, particularly 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.
[10] 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.
[edit] European Union citizenship
The
Maastricht Treaty introduced the concept of
citizenship of the European Union. Article 17 (1) of the
Treaty on European Union[11] 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.[12]
An agreement known as the amended
EC Treaty[12] 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
[13] which predate the introduction of Union citizenship.
[14]
[edit] Subnational citizenship
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.
[edit] History
[edit] Polis citizenship
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. Another view is 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. Citizenship has generally been identified as a western phenomenon. 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.
[2] 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.
[7]
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.
[17] 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
[17]
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.
[17] 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.
[8] 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. An important aspect of polis citizenship was exclusivity. Citizenship had a much higher status than non-citizens, such as women, slaves or ‘barbarians’.
[edit] Roman ideas of citizenship
In the
Roman Empire, citizenship expanded from small scale communities to the entire empire. Romans realised 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.
[19] 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",.
[20] but Rome offered relatively generous terms to its captives, including chances for lesser forms of citizenship.
[20] If Greek citizenship was an "emancipation from the world of things", 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.
Roman citizenship reflected a struggle between the upper-class
patrician interests against the lower-order working groups known as the
plebeian class.
[20] 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." 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." And the law, itself, was a kind of bond uniting people. Roman citizenship was more impersonal, universal, multiform, having different degrees and applications.
[edit] Middle Ages
During European Middle Ages, citizenship was usually associated with cities, see
burgher,
Great Burgher and
Bourgeoisie.
Nobility used to have
privileges above
commoners (see
aristocracy), but the
French Revolution and other revolutions revoked these privileges and made citizens.
[edit] 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.
[3]:p.161 Each city had its own law, courts, and independent administration. 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. 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. Membership in
guilds was an indirect form of citizenship in that it helped their members succeed financially. The rise of citizenship was linked to the rise of republicanism, according to one account, since independent citizens meant that kings had less power. Citizenship became an idealized, almost abstract, concept,
[7] 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.
[7]
[edit] 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.
[2] Modern citizenship is much more passive; action is delegated to others; citizenship is often a constraint on acting, not an impetus to act.
[2] Nevertheless, citizens are usually aware of their obligations to authorities, and are aware that these bonds often limit what they can do.
[2]
[edit] Honorary citizenship
Some countries extend "honorary citizenship" to those whom they consider to be especially admirable or worthy of the distinction.
By
act of United States Congress and presidential assent,
honorary United States citizenship has been awarded to only seven individuals. Honorary Canadian citizenship requires the unanimous approval of
Parliament. The only people to ever receive
honorary Canadian citizenship are
Raoul Wallenberg posthumously in 1985,
Nelson Mandela in 2001, the
14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso in 2006,
Aung San Suu Kyi in 2007 and
Prince Karim Aga Khan in 2009.
In 2002
South Korea awarded honorary citizenship to Dutch football (soccer) coach
Guus Hiddink who successfully and unexpectedly took the national team to the semi-finals of the
2002 FIFA World Cup. Honorary citizenship was also awarded to
Hines Ward, a black
Korean American football player, in 2006 for his efforts to minimize discrimination in Korea against half-Koreans.
American actress
Angelina Jolie received an honorary
Cambodian citizenship in 2005 due to her humanitarian efforts. Cricketers
Matthew Hayden and
Herschelle Gibbs were awarded honorary citizenship of
St. Kitts and Nevis in March 2007 due to their record-breaking innings in the
2007 Cricket World Cup.
In
Germany the honorary citizenship is awarded by cities, towns and sometimes federal states. The honorary citizenship ends with the death of the honoured, or, in exceptional cases, when it is taken away by the council or parliament of the city, town, or state. In the case of war criminals, all such honours were taken away by "Article VIII, section II, letter i of the directive 38 of the Allied Control Council for Germany" on October 12, 1946. In some cases, honorary citizenship was taken away from members of the former
GDR regime, e.g.
Erich Honecker, after the collapse of the GDR in 1989/90.
[citation needed]
In Ireland, "honorary citizenship" bestowed on a foreigner is in fact full legal citizenship including the right to reside in Ireland, to vote etc.
According to the Chapter II, Article 29, Paragraph 'e)' of the Cuban Constitution, Cuban citizens by birth are those foreigners who, by virtue of their exceptional merits won in the struggles for Cuba’s liberation, were considered Cuban citizens by birth.
Che Guevara was made an honorary citizen of
Cuba by
Fidel Castro for his part in the
Cuban Revolution, of which Guevara later renounced in his well known farewell letter.
[29]
Historically, many states limited citizenship to only a proportion of their population, thereby creating a citizen class with political rights superior to other sections of the population, but equal with each other. The classical example of a limited citizenry was
Athens where slaves, women, and resident foreigners (called
metics) were excluded from political rights. The
Roman Republic forms another example (see
Roman citizenship), and, more recently, the
nobility of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had some of the same characteristics.
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