Q1. Define Citizenship.

• The form and substance of citizenship reflect the dominant socio-economic and political forces of each historical period.
• Specificity of citizenship in each period can be understood by asking:
  • Who are the citizens?
  • Who are excluded from citizenship and what is the process/basis of exclusion?
  • Is citizenship a legal status indicating entitlements or does it involve active participation in political life?
  • What kind of relationship between the individual and the religious-cultural community is envisioned in citizenship rights and responsibilities?
  • What are the avenues for participation in building a responsible citizenship?
• Answers to these questions reveal how the concept of citizenship has evolved historically and help understand contemporary debates.
• Contemporary debates focus on:
  • Equality and rights
  • Issues of individual, group, and community rights
  • Active vs passive citizenship
  • The relationship between and the relative primacy of rights and duties.

• Citizenship is often seen as a legal/formal status, involving nationality, a passport, entitlements, rights guaranteed by the constitution, and specific duties and responsibilities.
• The concept of citizenship goes beyond the legal-formal framework to include substantive membership in the political community.
• T.H. Marshall’s definition of citizenship as “full and equal membership in a political community” emphasizes equality and integration within the community.
• While citizenship may be idealized as equality, it often remains elusive due to societal hierarchies of class, caste, sex, race, and religion, rather than equality of status.
• The internal logic of citizenship demands that its benefits become progressively more universal and egalitarian(Hoffman 1997).
• Citizenship is continually evolving, involving either an extension of status to more people or the dismantling of oppressive structures.
• The constituent elements of citizenship are uncertain and often contradictory, making it difficult to define precisely.
• Divergent views exist on whether rights or duties define citizenship, and whether its rightful domain is politics, the state, or other spheres like culture, economy, and society.
• There is no consensus on whether citizenship is only a status or a measure of activity, or whether individual autonomy or community and societal needs are more important.
• The legitimacy of the nation-state vs. global civil society as the unit of citizenship is also debated.
• These contradictions in the conceptual framework of citizenship reflect historically emergent strands that must be understood in their specific historical contexts.
• Earlier strands of citizenship continue to co-exist, maintaining tensions and uncertainties over its form and content.

• The word citizenship is derived from the Latin civis and the Greek equivalent polites, meaning a member of the polisor city.
• Modern understanding of citizenship as a system of equal rights, rather than privileges ascribed by birth, took root during the French Revolution (1789).
• With the rise of capitalism and liberalism, the concept of citizenship evolved to include individual rightsregardless of class, race, gender, or ethnicity.
• Since the 1980s, globalization and multiculturalism have challenged traditional notions of citizenship.
• The development of citizenship ideas can be attributed to four historical periods:
  • (a) Classical Graeco-Roman period (4th century B.C. onwards)
  • (b) Late medieval and early modern period, including the French and American Revolutions
  • (c) 19th century, with the growing influence of liberalism and capitalism
  • (d) Late 20th century, marked by contests over the form and substance of citizenship, with an increasing focus on multiculturalism and community rights.
• Two dominant strands of citizenship emerged over these periods:
  • Civic republicanism: Emphasizes common good, public spirit, political participation, and civic virtue.
  • Liberal citizenship: Focuses on individual rights and private interests.
• Marxists and feminists criticize both traditions as exclusionary, advocating for radical changes in citizenship theory and practice.
• Cultural pluralists, radical pluralists, and civil society theorists offer alternative views on citizenship and rights.

• The term civic republican refers to a constitutional government focused on sharing power to prevent arbitrary authority and involving citizens in public affairs for the mutual benefit of the individual and the community.
• Greek republics like Athens and Sparta exemplified classical citizenship, rooted in public service and civic duties, though based on opposing political principles—Athens focused on democracy, while Sparta was authoritarian.
• Aristotle, in Politics, explains the ideal form of citizenship and the conditions for its realization.
• In the Greek republics, citizenship was central to political life, with active participation being a key principle.
• Athens and Sparta were self-governing, small political communities with minimal social differentiation, based on trust, active political participation, and the primacy of identity as citizens.
• The idea of citizenship in classical Greece aligned with Aristotle’s idea that humans realize their true nature through participation in the political community.
• Citizenship was seen as a framework for securing freedom, representing the state of freedom and participation, an enduring element since classical times.
• Participation in civic life was vital to citizenship, where Greek citizens were defined as those who shared in the act of ruling and being ruled in turn.
• Citizenship in classical Greece was limited to free native-born men, excluding women, children, slaves, and resident aliens.
• The Greek idea of active participation in governance was linked to privileges and exclusions, with economic functions performed by slaves, who allowed citizens to engage in public life.
• During Roman Imperialism, the notion of citizenship evolved to meet the needs of a large, diverse empire, introducing a passive notion of citizenship as a legal status.
• This shift allowed the inclusion of non-Romans into Roman citizenship, granting them legal protection without the right to participate in governance, creating a hierarchy in citizenship.
• Roman citizenship introduced civitas sine suffragio (citizenship without franchise), where certain legal rights were given without political rights.
• Women and lower classes remained excluded from full citizenship.
• The ideal citizen was expected to develop civic virtue, a concept linked to military duty, patriotism, and devotionto law and duty, derived from the Latin term virtus.

• Around the 16th century, citizenship as a legal status became dominant, particularly in the context of absolutist statesseeking to impose authority over heterogeneous populations.
• Jean Bodin (16th century) defined a citizen as “one who enjoys the common liberty and protection of authority,” reflecting a passive notion of citizenship.
• Unlike the Greek and Roman traditions, citizenship now emphasized protection provided by the state, rather than active political participation.
• Early modern liberals focused on protecting physical life, family, property, and conscience—prioritizing the privateover the public domain.
• Citizenship in this period became a passive status, where individuals enjoyed liberty and protection, but did not actively participate in governance.
• Machiavelli and other thinkers emphasized the need for civic virtue, though they lamented the lack of such qualities in their time.
• Machiavelli believed that civic virtue was essential for a secure state and could be instilled through education, religion, and fear of consequences.
• Montesquieu and Rousseau also championed civic virtue and participation as crucial elements of citizenship, with Rousseau emphasizing the general will and public duty.
• Despite the focus on private liberty, thinkers in the 16th–18th centuries favored a return to classical republican idealsof active citizenship and public responsibilities.
• The French Revolution (1789) revived civic republicanism, challenging passive citizenship and introducing the idea of a citizen as a free and autonomous individual.
• The French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen established horizontal (equal)rights, contrasting with the hierarchical (feudal) system of privileges.
• The revolution combined civic participation with modern liberal individualism, reshaping the understanding of citizenship.
• Nationalism played a key role in the revival of civic republicanism, emphasizing the self-definition and self-awareness of a nation or people.
• Nationalism is an ideological movement for self-government, independence, and sovereignty, as defined by Anthony Smith.
• Nationalism involves recognizing a group as a unified entity, distinct from others, and having the right to self-determination, free from external interference.
• Only the assembly of citizens can make laws for the community, as no individual, section, or outsider can legislate.

• In the 19th century, the combination of civic republicanism and liberal individualism became tenuous due to the development of capitalist market relations and the growing influence of liberalism.
• The idea of citizens as individuals with private and conflicting interests began to take precedence over the commonality of interests.
• A less demanding liberal citizenship emerged, characterized by a loosely committed relationship to the state, which interfered as little as possible in the citizen’s life.
• The rise of a market economy and an influential bourgeoisie led to the dismantling of feudal and quasi-feudalsocio-economic structures.
• These structures had previously fettered individual initiative and autonomy, emphasizing personal subservienceand entrenched social and economic hierarchies.
• The new conception of citizenship emphasized individual rights and individual mobility across social classes, supported by the equality among citizens.
• This change involved the replacement of a localized civil society with a more inclusive national political community.
• According to Derek Heater (1990), the citizenship model of this period was characterized by individual rights and the potential for social mobility.