Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a legal member of a sovereign state or belonging to a nation. The idea of citizenship has been defined as the capacity of individuals to defend their rights in front of the governmental authority. Individual states and nations recognize citizenship of persons according to their own policies, regulations and criteria as to who is entitled to its citizenship.
A person may have multiple citizenships. A person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless, while one who lives on state borders whose territorial status is uncertain is a border-lander.
A citizenship ceremony in Australia
Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English – notably in international law – although the term is sometimes understood as denoting a person's membership of a nation (a large ethnic group). In some countries, e.g. the United States, the United Kingdom, nationality and citizenship can have different meanings (for more information, see Nationality versus citizenship).
Determining factors
A person can be recognized or granted citizenship on a number of
bases. Usually citizenship based on circumstances of birth is automatic,
but in other cases an application may be required.
- Citizenship by birth (jus sanguinis). If one or both of a person's parents are citizens of a given state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well. Formerly this might only have applied through the paternal line, but sex equality became common since the late twentieth century. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity and is related to the concept of a nation state common in Europe. Where jus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. Some states (United Kingdom, Canada) limit the right to citizenship by descent to a certain number of generations born outside the state; others (Germany, Ireland) grant citizenship only if each new generation is registered with the relevant foreign mission within a specified deadline; while others (France, Switzerland, Italy) have no limitation on the number of generations born abroad who can claim citizenship of their ancestors' country. This form of citizenship is common in civil law countries.
- Born within a country (jus soli). Some people are automatically citizens of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in England, where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the monarch (a concept pre-dating citizenship) and is common in common law countries. Most countries in the Americas grant unconditional jus soli citizenship, while it has been limited or abolished in almost all other countries.
- In many cases, both jus soli and jus sanguinis hold citizenship either by place or parentage (or both).
- Citizenship by marriage (jus matrimonii). Many countries fast-track naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen. Countries which are destinations for such immigration often have regulations to try to detect sham marriages, where a citizen marries a non-citizen typically for payment, without them having the intention of living together. Many countries (United Kingdom, Germany, United States, Canada) allow citizenship by marriage only if the foreign spouse is a permanent resident of the country in which citizenship is sought; others (Switzerland, Luxembourg) allow foreign spouses of expatriate citizens to obtain citizenship after a certain period of marriage, and sometimes also subject to language skills and proof of cultural integration (e.g. regular visits to the spouse's country of citizenship).
- Naturalization. States normally grant citizenship to people who have entered the country legally and been granted permit to stay, or been granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. In some countries, naturalization is subject to conditions which may include passing a test demonstrating reasonable knowledge of the language or way of life of the host country, good conduct (no serious criminal record) and moral character (such as drunkenness, or gambling), vowing allegiance to their new state or its ruler and renouncing their prior citizenship. Some states allow dual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to formally renounce any other citizenship.
- Citizenship by investment or Economic Citizenship. Wealthy people invest money in property or businesses, buy government bonds or simply donate cash directly, in exchange for citizenship and a passport.
Whilst legitimate and usually limited in quota, the schemes are
controversial. Costs for citizenship by investment range from as little
as $100,000 (£74,900) to as much as €2.5m (£2.19m)
- Excluded categories. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to citizenship on grounds such as skin color, ethnicity, sex, and free status (not being a slave). Most of these exclusions no longer apply in most places. Modern examples include some Arab countries which rarely grant citizenship to non-Muslims, e.g. Qatar is known for granting citizenship to foreign athletes, but they all have to profess the Islamic faith in order to receive citizenship. The United States grants citizenship to those born as a result of reproductive technologies, and internationally adopted children born after February 27, 1983. Some exclusions still persist for internationally adopted children born before February 27, 1983 even though their parents meet citizenship criteria.
History
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 humanity, 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 concept 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.
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.
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. 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
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 slave-owners to have substantial free time, and enabled participation in public life. Polis citizenship was marked by exclusivity. Inequality of status was widespread; citizens (πολίτης politēs < πόλις 'city') had a higher status than non-citizens, such as women, slaves, and resident foreigners (metics). 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 entirety of
the 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, as it had been
reduced to a judicial safeguard and the expression of rule and law. 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", but Rome offered relatively generous terms to its captives, including chances for lesser forms of citizenship. 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.
— J. G. A. Pocock, 1998
Roman citizenship reflected a struggle between the upper-class patrician interests against the lower-order working groups known as the plebeian class.
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". The law itself was a kind of bond uniting people. Roman citizenship was more impersonal, universal, multiform, having different degrees and applications.
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. 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,
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.
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.
Modern citizenship is much more passive; action is delegated to others;
citizenship is often a constraint on acting, not an impetus to act.
Nevertheless, citizens are usually aware of their obligations to
authorities, and are aware that these bonds often limit what they can
do.
United States of America
Portrait of Dred Scott, plaintiff in the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford
case at the Supreme Court of the United States, commissioned by a
"group of Negro citizens" and presented to the Missouri Historical
Society, St. Louis, in 1888
From 1790 until the mid-twentieth century, United States law used
racial criteria to establish citizenship rights and regulate who was
eligible to become a naturalized citizen. The Naturalization Act of 1790,
the first law in U.S. history to establish rules for citizenship and
naturalization, barred citizenship to all people who were not of
European descent, stating that "any alien being a free white person, who
shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the
United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a
citizen thereof."
Under early U.S. laws, African Americans were not eligible for
citizenship. In 1857, these laws were upheld in the US Supreme Court
case Dred Scott v. Sandford,
which ruled that "a free negro of the African race, whose ancestors
were brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a 'citizen'
within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States," and that
"the special rights and immunities guarantied to citizens do not apply
to them."
It was not until the abolition of slavery following the American Civil War that African Americans were granted citizenship rights. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
ratified on July 9, 1868, stated that "all persons born or naturalized
in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are
citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Two years later, the Naturalization Act of 1870
would extend the right to become a naturalized citizen to include
"aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent".
Despite the gains made by African Americans after the Civil War,
Native Americans, Asians, and others not considered "free white persons"
were still denied the ability to become citizens. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
explicitly denied naturalization rights to all people of Chinese
origin, while subsequent acts passed by the US Congress, such as laws in
1906, 1917, and 1924, would include clauses that denied immigration and naturalization rights to people based on broadly defined racial categories. Supreme Court cases such as Ozawa v. United States (1922) and U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind
(1923), would later clarify the meaning of the phrase "free white
persons," ruling that ethnically Japanese, Indian, and other
non-European people were not "white persons", and were therefore
ineligible for naturalization under U.S. law.
Native Americans were not granted full US citizenship until the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act
in 1924. However, even well into the 1960s some state laws prevented
Native Americans from exercising their full rights as citizens, such as
the right to vote. In 1962, New Mexico became the last state to
enfranchise Native Americans.
It was not until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
that the racial and gender restrictions for naturalization were
explicitly abolished. However, the act still contained restrictions
regarding who was eligible for US citizenship, and retained a national
quota system which limited the number of visas given to immigrants based
on their national origin, to be fixed "at a rate of one-sixth of one
percent of each nationality's population in the United States in 1920". It was not until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that these immigration quota systems were drastically altered in favor of a less discriminatory system.
Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics
The 1918 constitution of revolutionary Russia
granted citizenship to any foreigners who were living within Russia, so
long as they were "engaged in work and [belonged] to the working
class."
It recognized "the equal rights of all citizens, irrespective of their
racial or national connections" and declared oppression of any minority
group or race "to be contrary to the fundamental laws of the Republic."
The 1918 constitution also established the right to vote and be elected
to soviets
for both men and women "irrespective of religion, nationality,
domicile, etc. [...] who shall have completed their eighteenth year by
the day of election." The later constitutions of the USSR would grant universal Soviet citizenship to the citizens of all member republics in concord with the principles of non-discrimination laid out in the original 1918 constitution of Russia.
Israel
Israeli law distinguishes citizenship from nationality. The
nationality of an Israeli Arab citizen is “Arab”, not Israeli, while the
nationality of a Jewish citizen is “Jewish” not Israeli.
National Socialism
National Socialism or "Nazism", the German variant of twentieth century fascism whose precepts were laid out in Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf,
classified inhabitants of the nation into three main hierarchical
categories, each of which would have different rights and duties in
relation to the state: citizens, subjects, and aliens. The first
category, citizens, were to possess full civic rights and
responsibilities. Citizenship would be conferred only on males of German
(or so-called "Aryan") heritage who had completed military service, and
could be revoked at any time by the state. The Reich Citizenship Law of
1935 established racial criteria for citizenship in the German Reich, and because of this law Jews and others who could not prove "German" racial heritage were stripped of their citizenship.
The second category, subjects, referred to all others who were
born within the nation's boundaries who did not fit the racial criteria
for citizenship. Subjects would have no voting rights, could not hold
any position within the state, and possessed none of the other rights
and civic responsibilities conferred on citizens. All women were to be
conferred "subject" status upon birth, and could only obtain "citizen"
status if they worked independently or if they married a German citizen
(see women in Nazi Germany).
The final category, aliens, referred to those who were citizens of another state, who also had no rights.
"The People's State will classify its population in three groups: Citizens, subjects of the State, and aliens.
The principle is that birth within the confines of the State gives only the status of a subject. It does not carry with it the right to fill any position under the State or to participate in political life, such as taking an active or passive part in elections. Another principle is that the race and nationality of every subject of the State will have to be proved. A subject is at any time free to cease being a subject and to become a citizen of that country to which he belongs in virtue of his nationality. The only difference between an alien and a subject of the State is that the former is a citizen of another country.
The young boy or girl who is of German nationality and is a subject of the German State is bound to complete the period of school education which is obligatory for every German. Thereby he submits to the system of training which will make him conscious of his race and a member of the folk-community. Then he has to fulfil all those requirements laid down by the State in regard to physical training after he has left school; and finally he enters the army. The training in the army is of a general kind. It must be given to each individual German and will render him competent to fulfil the physical and mental requirements of military service. The rights of citizenship shall be conferred on every young man whose health and character have been certified as good, after having completed his period of military service. This act of inauguration in citizenship shall be a solemn ceremony.
And the diploma conferring the rights of citizenship will be preserved by the young man as the most precious testimonial of his whole life. It entitles him to exercise all the rights of a citizen and to enjoy all the privileges attached thereto. For the State must draw a sharp line of distinction between those who, as members of the nation, are the foundation and the support of its existence and greatness, and those who are domiciled in the State simply as earners of their livelihood there.
On the occasion of conferring a diploma of citizenship the new citizen must take a solemn oath of loyalty to the national community and the State. This diploma must be a bond which unites together all the various classes and sections of the nation. It shall be a greater honour to be a citizen of this Reich, even as a street-sweeper, than to be the King of a foreign State.
The citizen has privileges which are not accorded to the alien. He is the master in the Reich. But this high honour has also its obligations. Those who show themselves without personal honour or character, or common criminals, or traitors to the fatherland, can at any time be deprived of the rights of citizenship. Therewith they become merely subjects of the State.
The German girl is a subject of the State but will become a citizen when she marries. At the same time those women who earn their livelihood independently have the right to acquire citizenship if they are German subjects."
— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Volume II: The National Socialist Movement, Chapter III: Subjects and Citizens
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."
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. In China, for example, there is a cultural politics of citizenship which could be called "peopleship".
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.
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.
Modern citizenship has often been looked at as two competing underlying ideas:
- The liberal-individualist or sometimes liberal conception of citizenship suggests that citizens should have entitlements necessary for human dignity. 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, but are essentially passive politically, 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. 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. It was later that so-called social rights became part of the obligation for the state.
- 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. 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. 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. An ideal citizen is one who exhibits "good civic behavior". Free citizens and a republic government are "mutually interrelated." Citizenship suggested a commitment to "duty and civic virtue".
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. Some unresolved issues regarding citizenship include questions about what is the proper balance between duties and rights. Another is a question about what is the proper balance between political citizenship versus social citizenship.
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.
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. 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.
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 their consent––or is citizenship a matter of where
a person was born––that is, by their descent.
International
Some intergovernmental organizations have extended the concept and terminology associated with citizenship to the international level,
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 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.
An agreement known as the amended EC Treaty
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 which predate the introduction of Union citizenship.
Mercosur
Citizenship of the Mercosur is granted to eligible citizens of the Southern Common Market member states.
It was approved in 2010 through the Citizenship Statute and should be
fully implemented by the member countries in 2021, when the program will
be transformed in an international treaty incorporated into the
national legal system of the countries, under the concept of "Mercosur
Citizen".
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:
- Some such countries do not require tourist visas of citizens of other Commonwealth countries, or allow some Commonwealth citizens to stay in the country for tourism purposes without a visa for longer than citizens of other 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.
- In the United Kingdom, all Commonwealth citizens legally residing in the country can vote and stand for office at all elections.
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". 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. 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,
citizenship education is taught in schools, as an academic subject in
some countries. 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) affect collective citizenship and thus in turn them.
Republic of Ireland
It is taught in the Republic of 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.
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.
- Citizenship is a compulsory subject of the National Curriculum in state schools in England for all pupils aged 11–16. Some schools offer a qualification in this subject at GCSE and A level. All state schools have a statutory requirement to teach the subject, assess pupil attainment and report student's progress in citizenship to parents.
- In Wales the model used is Personal and Social Education.
- Citizenship is not taught as a discrete subject in Scottish schools, but is a cross-curricular strand of the Curriculum for Excellence. However they do teach a subject called "Modern Studies" which covers the social, political and economic study of local, national and international issues.
- Citizenship is taught as a standalone subject in all state schools in Northern Ireland and most other schools in some forms from year 8 to 10 prior to GCSEs. Components of Citizenship are then also incorporated into GCSE courses such as 'Learning for Life and Work'.
Criticism of citizenship education in schools
There
are two kinds of criticism of citizenship education in schools.
Firstly, some philosophers of education argue that most governments and
mainstream policies stimulate and advocate questionable approaches of
citizenship education. These approaches aim to develop specific
dispositions in students, dispositions conducive to political
participation and solidarity. But there are radically different views on
the nature of good citizenship and education should involve and develop
autonomy and open-mindedness. Therefore, it requires a more critical
approach than is possible when political participation and solidarity
are conceived of as goals of education.
Secondly, some educationalists argue that merely teaching children
about the theory of citizenship is ineffective, unless schools
themselves reflect democratic practices by giving children the
opportunity to have a say in decision making. They suggest that schools
are fundamentally undemocratic institutions, and that such a setting
cannot instill in children the commitment and belief in democratic
values that is necessary for citizenship education to have a proper
impact.
Some educationalists relate this criticism to John Dewey (see critical
comments on this interpretation of Dewey: Van der Ploeg, 2016).
