Citizenship and Nationhood

Week 4
Lesson Plan
• Introduction
• Making Citizenship and Nationhood Coterminous: The History of the
Idea
• Making Citizenship and Nationhood Coterminous: Socio-historical
Explanations and Political Practices
• Contemporary Liberalism: Making Citizenship and Nationhood Partly
Coterminous
• Conclusion
Introduction
• The concepts which constitute the title of this chapter refer to two distinct phenomena.
• Citizenship means membership of a state.
• Nationhood means membership of a ‘nation,’ which is a particular type of cultural and/or
ethnic collective.
• A third term, ‘nationality,’ is equivocal, sometimes meaning citizenship, sometimes nationhood.
• Relationship between citizenship and nationhood influenced by historical and
normative factors
• Enlightenment and rise of nationalism led to the idea of "nation states"
• Socio-economic changes like capitalism and industrialization contributed to the
overlap between citizenship and national communities
• Ideologies of nationalism emerged, advocating for congruence between citizenship
and cultural nations
Making Citizenship and Nationhood Coterminous:
The History of the Idea
• The Peace of Westphalia (1648) marked the birth of European
territorial states' sovereignties.
• It aimed to replace non-territorial sovereignties in Europe with
territorial states.
• The treaty didn't aim for states with citizenries forming single nations;
this idea evolved over centuries.
• The concept of the nation state embodies two significant conceptions
of nationhood.
• Advantages of congruency between citizenship and nationhood are
highlighted for state legitimacy and functioning.
Civic Nationalism
• John Stuart Mill argued for shared nationhood's necessity for
representative government.
• The notion of civic nationalism emphasizes shared nationhood to serve
citizens, not ethno-cultural groups.
• Civic nationalism, often endorsed by liberal states, aims for a
colorblind approach to nationhood.
Ethno-cultural Nationalism
• Ethno-cultural nationalism views the state as a tool to preserve particularist values and
traditions.
• Ethno-cultural nationalism often necessitates full congruency between citizenries and
nationhood.
• Isaiah Berlin and Ernest Gellner characterize ethno-cultural nationalism with essentialism,
moral collectivism, relativism, and particularism.
• Anti-Enlightenment nationalism asserts exclusive citizenship tied to nationhood, akin to the
natural order.
• It implies that each nation must have its own state exclusively serving its citizens' needs.
• Ethno-cultural nationalism dictates that citizenship rights are tied to membership in the
nation.
• Citizenship and nationhood must align according to the assumptions of ethno-cultural
nationalism.
Making Citizenship and Nationhood Coterminous:
Socio-historical Explanations and Political Practices
• Ernest Gellner and Benedict Anderson, modernist sociologists of
nationalism, identify socio-historical, economic, and psychosocial forces
driving nationalist ideologies.
• Gellner attributes nationalism's emergence to the shift from agrarian to
industrial economies, necessitating cultural and political unification for
economic productivity.
• He notes various types of ethno-cultural nationalism across Europe, often
rooted in anti-Enlightenment worldviews.
• Benedict Anderson highlights the role of print media, decline of dynastic
power, and waning religious influence in motivating nationalism.
• The invention of print facilitated the formation of "imagined
communities" based on shared historical narratives.
• Nationalism provided a sense of belonging and purpose amid
declining religious and dynastic legitimacy.
• Nationhood and citizenship were aligned through assimilationist or
exclusionary methods in European states.
• Civic nationalism in France and Britain employed assimilationist
policies, while ethno-cultural nationalism excluded those not sharing
the appropriate nationhood.
• The aftermath of World Wars demonstrated the extreme measures
taken by states to enforce congruency between citizenry and
nationhood.
• Post-war immigration challenges the feasibility and morality of
achieving congruency, leading to legal and social inequalities.
• Technological advancements and globalization have reduced the
necessity for congruency between citizenship and nationhood.
• Global mobility, diaspora communities, and cultural diversity
necessitate compromises between cultural needs and shared values for
effective state functioning.
Contemporary Liberalism: Making Citizenship
and Nationhood Partly Coterminous
• Pressures to align citizenship and nationhood have significantly
diminished, particularly in Western societies.
• However, the significance of this alignment persists within both civic
and ethno-cultural nationalism.
• Ethno-cultural demands for congruency, previously overlooked by
liberals, gained attention since the 1980s.
• Many liberal thinkers advocate for partial overlap between citizenship
and cultural nationhood, supporting the preservation of cultural
identities.
• They endorse identifying citizenship with specific cultural or ethno-
cultural nations, even if not all citizens share these identities.
• The ideal of congruency within civic nationalism has evolved, no
longer emphasizing deep cultural unity.
• Liberal thinkers now advocate for shallower cultural unity, often
focusing on commitment to constitutional principles, termed
"constitutional patriotism."
• These developments highlight a shift in liberal perspectives towards
nationalism and cultural unity.
Shrinking the Overlap between Citizenship and
(Ethno-)cultural Nationhood
• Liberal thinkers reject the anti-Enlightenment idea that collective group interests
supersede individual interests.
• They argue that individuals are the primary subjects of political morality, and nations
are social constructs justified by individual needs, goals, and values.
• Recent liberal thinkers have proposed various justifications for people's interests in
adhering to their ethnic or cultural nations.
• Will Kymlicka emphasizes the importance of culture for individual freedom, arguing
that the state should assist in preserving cultural identities.
• Alan Patten argues that minority cultures play a role in constituting individuals'
conceptions of the good, necessitating state neutrality towards cultural preferences.
• These arguments apply to both minority and majority cultures, addressing the rights of
individuals to live within their cultural frameworks.
• Liberal writers invoke core liberal values such as freedom, equal
opportunity, and state neutrality to justify cultural rights.
• They argue for cultural rights not only for minority groups but also for
ethno-cultural groups generally, both majorities and minorities.
• Liberal theories do not entail a right to distinct statehood or exclusive
citizenship based on ethnicity.
• However, they often lead to partial congruency between citizenship and
nationhood due to practical constraints and historical circumstances.
• Liberals address concerns of inequality in citizenship and insufficient
social cohesion resulting from this partial overlap.
• Some propose positive legal rights supporting all cultural groups equally, while others
advocate for the privatization of cultural concerns.
• Radical multiculturalists advocate for disconnecting citizenship from nationhood, granting
equal recognition to all cultural groups.
• However, practical difficulties arise, such as language constraints and collective action
problems.
• Traditional liberals propose attenuating the majority's cultural identity to accommodate
minority cultural rights, but this may not fully address the latter's interests.
• Despite challenges, a distinction between the rights of homeland groups and immigrant
groups regarding cultural or ethnic nationhood seems unavoidable.
• This partial overlap between citizenship and ethno-cultural nationhood is considered
acceptable if migration is voluntary and individuals have options to assimilate, form
diasporas, or return to their homeland.
Shallowing the Cultural Depth of Civic
Nationhood
• Liberal approaches to cultural diversity and nationhood plurality must address the
issue of social cohesion within states.
• Some writers propose attenuating cultural commonalities among citizens to foster
cohesion.
• David Miller suggests minimizing reductions in cultural commonalities, while
others advocate for "constitutional patriotism," where citizens are committed to
basic constitutional principles.
• Intermediate options include demands for citizens to identify with the particular
way their country's institutions embody values and requirements for a common
language.
• Constitutional patriotism can serve as a minimum requirement for multinational
components of citizenries.
• Immigrant minorities should be required to speak the language of the
national group among whom they live.
• Additional cohesion requirements for common nationhood may be desirable
but not necessary.
• Each state should choose its approach based on the particular mix and
circumstances of its citizenry.
• Balancing these considerations usually involves compromises and may not
lead to clear-cut solutions.
• There are tensions between legal and formal citizenship (liberal conception)
and the more robust republican conception, which involves participation in
a common good.
• The liberal solution leaves a common good for all citizens to share,
even if culturally thin.
• Most citizens belonging to homeland groups can share in culturally
thick common goods.
• Members of immigrant minorities have the choice to integrate fully or
preserve their original nationhood as part of a diaspora.
• This choice ensures that they are not dominated by other citizens in
terms of common goods shared by the majority.
• While tensions exist, the liberal solution allows for individual agency
and choice in navigating citizenship and nationhood.
Conclusion
• The concept of states' citizenries aligning fully with nationhood has evolved over time.
• Strong counter-Enlightenment and anti-liberal ethno-cultural nationalism and strong
civic nationalism have converged.
• This convergence takes the form of liberal multiculturalism or liberal ethno-cultural
nationalism and thin civic nationalism or constitutional patriotism.
• The process of these ideologies fitting together has normative implications.
• The outcomes of this process in some Western countries are discussed sympathetically.
• The future evolution of this process is uncertain.
• The rights and wrongs of these developments depend on unforeseeable historical
factors.