COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND

HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF CIVICS AND ETHICAL
STUDIES

CITIZENSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE

Compiled
By

Mesele W/Michael (Ass/Professor Governance)

April, 2024
DEFINITIONS
 A “citizen” is a member of a political community, which
is defined by a set of rights and obligations. Citizenship
therefore represents a relationship between the
individual and the state, in which the two are bound
together by reciprocal rights and obligations.
 Citizenship is a legal status and an identity.

 Thus, there is an objective dimension of citizenship:

specific rights and obligations which a state invests in
its members, and a subjective dimension: a sense of
loyalty and belonging.
CONT…
 However, objective citizenship does not in itself ensure
the existence of subjective citizenship, because
“members of groups that feel alienated from their state,
perhaps because of social disadvantage or racial
discrimination, cannot properly be thought of as ‘full
citizens’, even though they may enjoy a range of formal
entitlements.
Social Definition Institutions more
T. H. MARSHALL’S
rights
CONCEPTUALIZATION
closely associated
OF CITIZENSHIP
civil rights Rights necessary for individual freedom – Courts of justice
liberty of the person, freedom of speech,
thought and faith, the right to own property
and to conclude valid contracts, and the right
to justice.
political Right to participate in the exercise of Parliament and
rights
political power, as a member of a body councils of local
invested with political authority or as an government
elector of the members of such a body
Social The right to a modicum of economic welfare Educational system
rights
and security. and social services
CONT…
 On the other hand according to some scholars the
concept of citizenship is composed of three main
elements. The first is citizenship as legal status, defined
by civil, political and social rights. The second
considers citizens specifically as political agents,
actively participating in a society's political institutions.
The third refers to citizenship as membership in a
political community that furnishes a distinct source of
identity.
CONT…
 Furthermore Zamudio (2004), conceptualizes citizenship
in three dimensions: (i.e. status, exercise and conscience.
 Citizenship status is the set of rights and obligations
between individuals and the state.
 Citizenship exercise refers to the conditions necessary
for the realization of citizenship rights
 Citizenship Conscience makes reference to the
conviction of being a citizen, with the recognition of the
state expressed in concrete practices that assure
citizenship exercise.
CONT…
Citizenship conscience in turn composed of three elements
 The knowledge of citizenship rights and duties;

 The identification of the state as responsible agent to

protect those rights and duties by means of laws and
policies that guarantee their fulfillment;
 The recognition of legitimate means to make demands
MODES OF ACQUIRING CITIZENSHIP
CITIZENSHIP BY BIRTH
 While there is no universal rule concerning citizenship
and nationality, most nations follow the legal principles
of jus soli or jus sanguinis, or a combination of the two.
 Jus soli is the right of birthplace, i.e., citizenship is
conferred at birth when a child is born within the borders
of the nation. This principle dictates that persons born in
a country automatically become citizens of that country,
regardless of their parents’ citizenship or legal residence.
CONT…
 Jus sanguinis is the right of blood. In other words,
citizenship is earned by inheriting the nationality of
one’s parents.
 Under this principle, a child born abroad may derive
citizenship from his or her parents, thus becoming a
citizen of the parents’ country of citizenship.
 Alternatively, a child born in a country that follows the
principle of jus sanguinis does not automatically become
a citizen of that country unless the parents are citizens.
 In practice, the citizenship laws of many countries
follow a combination of both principles.
CITIZENSHIP THROUGH
NATURALIZATION
 Naturalization is the process by which citizenship is conferred
upon a foreign citizen or national after he or she fulfills the
requirements set forth by the nation to which he or she is
applying for citizenship.
 Usually , countries tend to require residence for a certain period
of time, knowledge of the language of the country, and allegiance
to the nation.
 The naturalization requirements of many countries include the
following basic ingredients:
 A minimum age (often 18);
 Permanent residence of a certain number of years, usually
including a specified period of continuous residence;
 Ability to communicate in the native language and
 The applicant be of “good character” and have no criminal
history
CONT…
 Some countries, require the applicant for naturalization
to demonstrate his or her knowledge of the country and
its history and government.
 Some also require a formal renunciation of any other
country’s citizenship; others permit an individual to hold
dual or multiple nationalities
 Apart from this there is also a possibility of
Naturalization for individuals in cases of marriage and
adoption
DUAL CITIZENSHIP
 Dual (or multiple) citizens are persons who are citizens
of two (or more) countries at the same time.
 The growth of international business, trade, travel and
communication has made dual citizenship a phenomenon
of increasing international interest.
 The Hague Convention of 1930 stated that each nation is
responsible for determining who may be a citizen of
their country and declared that dual nationality, or dual
citizenship, is undesirable.
 However, acknowledging that it does occur, the
Convention established general principles concerning
dual nationality.
CONT…
 For example, the Convention noted that a state may not
give diplomatic protection to one of its Citizens against a
state to which the person also possesses citizenship.
 Three decades later, the Council of Europe adopted a
similar convention designed to limit multiple citizenship.
 In 1997, however, a new European Convention on
citizenship was adopted which accepts the concept of
multiple citizenship, but attempts to regulate the
phenomenon
CONT…
 Dual Citizenship may be acquired through a variety of means, depending on
the citizenship and naturalization laws of the countries involved:
1. Birth: A child born in a country that follows the principle of jus soli
acquires the citizenship of that country by the fact of being born within
that country. However, that child may also acquire the citizenship of his or
her parent(s) if the parent(s) is a citizen of another country and that country
follows the rule of jus sanguinis, by which a child derives citizenship
through his or her parent(s)
2. Marriage: In certain countries, a person can automatically acquire the
citizenship of his or her spouse upon marriage.
3. Naturalization: Some countries permit naturalization without renunciation
of former citizenship.
4. Treaty: Some countries have agreement with certain other countries
permitting dual citizenship among their respective citizens
5. Default: A person naturalized by another country without the approval of
his or her country o f origin may be considered to still be a citizen of the
original country.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST AND IN FAVOR
OF DUAL NATIONALITY
Against Dual Nationality In Favor of Dual Nationality
Competing loyalties – particularly Reflects deeply felt affiliations,
becomes an issue if the two countries connections, and loyalties to both
were to be at war countries
Exit option – can retreat to other Promotes naturalization and
nation in times of conflict, thus integration
fostering “less than responsible”
exercise of duties
Double voting – may lead to Facilitates free movement
unfairness in the political process between states
Instructed voting – voting in one Promotes inclusiveness
country may be influenced by
the leaders of the other country
CONT…
Complications for diplomatic protection –
one country may not
recognize the other country’s right to
protect that citizen
Military service – requirements of the two
countries may conflict, especially during
times of war

Conflict of laws – the two countries’ laws

may be in conflict concerning issues such as
civil status, inheritance, taxation,
LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP
 As a rule, loss of Citizenship may occur as result of a
declaration of Renunciation(voluntary) of Citizenship
which, however, is valid in any case only with the
acceptance of the state involved.
 Most municipal laws provide for the possibility to
renounce Citizenship subject, however, to certain
conditions such as paying taxes or performing military
service or other duties connected with citizenship.
 It is frequently asserted that international law does not
contain a rule limiting the possibility of renouncing
Citizenship, nor does it oblige states to provide this
possibility in municipal law
CONT…
 In international jurisprudence, treaty provisions making
renunciation dependent upon the agreement of both
states concerned are often taken as an indication that
there is no duty to prevent loss of Citizenship on the
basis of voluntary renunciation.
 The rule reflects the recent development of recognition
of Citizenship as a human right. To this effect Art. 15,
para. 2 of the Universal Declaration contains the issue of
the right to change one's Citizenship
CONT…
 Even if the binding character of this provision is
disputed one could conclude from state practice the rule
that renunciation of citizenship must at least not be
refused arbitrarily.
 This conclusions also supported by art. 12 of the
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 19 December
1966, containing a right to leave the country, including a
person’s own country.
CONT…
 The legal situation concerning the loss of nationality
may be somewhat clearer with regard to involuntary loss
of citizenship(Deprivation). There are a number of
reasons which are clearly recognized in state practice
 Voluntary acquisition of another nationality;
 Acquisition of Citizenship by fraudulent conduct;
 Voluntary service in a foreign military force;
 Conduct seriously prejudicial to the vital interest of the
state party;
 Lack of genuine link between the state party and the
national habitually residing abroad; (Lapse)
CONT…
 Where it is established that the preconditions which led
to the exlege acquisition of a minor are no longer
fulfilled;
 Adoption of a child if the child acquires or possesses the
foreign Citizenship of one or both of the adopting
parents.
STATELESSNESS
 Under international law, a stateless persons is someone
“who is not considered as a citizen by any state under the
operation of its law”.
 Where a person lacks any citizenship, he or she does not
enjoy the attached rights or duties, resulting in a lack of
protection.
 To this day, a tremendous number of people across the
globe remain stateless.
 According to Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, having a citizenship should be the regular
status.
 The phenomenon of statelessness exists in two forms: de
jure and de facto statelessness.
CONT..
 The first kind is about people who are legally stateless,
who are not recognized as a citizens by any State.
 However, the second kind of statelessness is much more
difficult to identify.
 According to some stateless people are defined “people
who have not been formally denied or deprived of
citizenship but who lack the ability to prove their
citizenship, or, despite documentation, are denied access
to many human rights that other citizens enjoy.
CONT…
 These people may be de facto stateless – that is, stateless
in practice, if not in law –or cannot rely on the state of
which they are citizens for protection”.
 The UNHCR also considers that the distinction between
de jure and de facto statelessness is that de jure stateless
people are not considered as citizens under the laws of
any country, while de facto statelessness occurs when a
person formally possesses citizenship, but the nationality
is ineffective
CITIZENSHIP VERSUS NATIONALITY
 The differences between nationality and citizenship can be
considered on the following grounds:
 The status arising out of the fact that a person’s
attachment to the origin of a particular nation is called
Nationality. Citizenship is a status that can be obtained
by meeting the legal requirements set by the government
of the state.
 The nationality is embeds identity concept. On the other
hand, citizenship is a legal or juristic concept.
 The nationality of a person indicates his/her place or
country of birth while the citizenship of a person shows
that the individual is registered as a citizen by the
government of the respective country.
CONT..
 A person can become a national of a country by birth or
by inheritance. As against this, there are a variety of
ways through which an individual can become the
citizen of a country, i.e. by birth, inheritance, marriage,
naturalization or registration.
 The nationality of a person cannot be changed.
However, his citizenship can be changed.
 The nationality of a person cannot be taken back, once
acquired while the citizenship of a person can be taken
back.
 A person cannot be a national of more than one country.
In contrast, a person can possess citizenship of more
than one country at a time.
THE EVOLUTION OF CITIZENSHIP AS A
NORMATIVE AND EMPIRICAL FIELD

 While citizenship studies is not yet an institutionalized field, it

has established itself as a de facto field in the humanities and
social sciences around 1990s.
 The reasons behind the emergence of citizenship studies in the
academic discourse are no doubt associated with those broader
conditions defined as; post modernization and globalization
along with their concrete manifestations such as:
 the reconfiguration of classes,
 the emergence of new international government regimes,
 new rationalities of government,
 new regimes of accumulation of different forms of capital,
 new social movements and their struggles for recognition and
re distribution.
CONT…
 Major social issues such as the status of immigrants,
aboriginal peoples, refugees, Diaspora groups,
environmental injustices, and homelessness have
increasingly been expressed through the language of
rights and obligations, and hence of citizenship.
 Therefore normative and empirical approaches to
address the issue of citizenship came in to attention
from different corners of intellectual discourse.
FOUNDATIONS OF CITIZENSHIP: PHILOSOPHICAL
DISCOURSES
POLITICAL RIGHT /CITIZENSHIP

According to some scholars the discourse on political

citizenship focus on four types of rights
 Personal political rights

 Organizational rights

 Membership rights

 Group self determination right

SOCIAL RIGHT / CITIZENSHIP

 Social Citizenship is comprehensively highlighted by

T.H Marshall, in his essay, “Citizenship and the Social
Class” in 1949, which is conceptualized as the social
responsibilities the state has to its citizens that range
from granting the right to a modicum of economic
welfare and security to the right to share to the full in
the social heritage and to live the life of a civilized
being according to the standards prevailing in the
society.
CONT…
 In other word social citizenship can also be considered
as a status that grants individuals the rights to freedom
from material constraints that may impede their ability
to act autonomously and therefore to exercise the rights
associated with civil and political citizenship.
CONT…
 Though public and scholarly attention has recently been
focused on conservative critiques of welfare, which have
been the basis for dramatic policy changes still there are
groups claiming that whatever the difficulties in finding
equilibrium between political community and markets,
or between the state and civil society, or between public
initiative and private innovation, provisions of social
citizenship are instrumental in nurturing
egalitarianism.
ECONOMIC RIGHT / CITIZENSHIP

 More recently theories of citizenship have had to deal

with economic issues because the growth of neo-
liberalism, and the experiments carried out in the name
of that philosophy in some countries, have demonstrated
how social and political rights can be undermined by the
imperatives of market mechanisms.
CONT…
 Economic citizenship can also be used to represent both
the economic contributions requisite to become a
citizen, as well as the role in which one's economic
standing can influence his or her right as a citizen.
 It means that earning a living is a basic component of
citizenship, because it represents the dual essence of a
right and an obligation.
 Economic citizenship is also conceptualized as the
right to economic freedom and independence, the right
to self-support, and by implication the right to
participate in the most important activity of
contemporary society.
CITIZENSHIP:
AS AN IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE

 Identity is a complex concept for young people to

understand. It is to do with how people see and feel
about themselves, both as individuals and in
comparison with other individuals. It combines self-
concept and self-esteem and is as much to with internal
emotional states as external characteristics or behavior.
 On the other hand Citizenship identity is seeing and
feeling oneself to be a citizen with, in a society at least,
the same rights and responsibilities as every other
citizen.
 The raising interest on citizenship concept in political
theory is the result of an increasing cultural diversity in
contemporary societies.
DUTIES AND CITIZENSHIP: TOWARDS AN
APPRAISAL

 Obeying the laws

 Respecting other people’s privacy and property as well as
concern for environment.
 Paying taxes (although tourists and illegal aliens also pay some
taxes such as sales taxes,
 Being informed and alternative to public issues
 Performing public service
 Voting and participate in community activities , supporting your
family
 Monitoring political leaders and governmental officials to make
them behave in civil manner and accepting responsibility
 Serving in the country's armed forces when called up on
 Preserves national and historical heritages
THE PARADOX AND DILEMMA OF CITIZENSHIP

 For centuries citizenship rights have been inflicted by

exclusive tendencies.
 Ancient Greece for instance excluded slaves and women
from participating in processes ordinarily reserved for
citizens.
 Just as in the past, equality in accessing state
institutions and public participation in decision
making remain key challenges to citizenship and its
discourse.
 Since 1990, different countries of the world have
witnessed denationalization resulting in intra-
national conflicts.
CONT…
 Besides ,to some extent pluralism poses a threat to the
idea of citizenship by causing individuals to stick
together within their group identity and let them to
ignore a larger common culture –that is what scholars
refer to call- ‘groupism’.
CONT…
More over some scholars explains that currently the
citizenship dilemma arises when citizens try to respond
to four major local and global problems of public goods
today.
 The problem of environmental destruction and climate
change
 The problem of the inequality, exploitation and poverty
of the Global south and the growing inequalities within
the Global north and south;
 The problem of global wars and the militarization; and

 The problem of distrust and disrespect for different

civilizations and peoples.
CHAPTER TWO: CITIZENSHIP
IN HISTORY

The Genesis of Citizenship

ANCIENT CITIZENSHIP: CITIZENSHIP AS EQUAL PARTICIPATION
ANCIENT GREECE

 The first form of citizenship was based on the way people lived in
ancient Greece, in small-scale communities of the polis.
 The canonical text of the Greek version of citizenship is Aristotle’s
Politics with ancient Athens as the model.
 Aristotle regarded human beings as ‘political animals’ because it is in
our nature to live in political communities – indeed, he contended
that only within a polis or city-state could human potential be fully
realized.
 However, he believed people played the roles appropriate to their
natural station in life, with only some qualifying as politai or citizens.
 Though neither the qualifications Aristotle deemed appropriate for
membership of this select group nor the duties he expected of them
are regarded as entirely suitable today, they have cast a long shadow
over the history of citizenship and their inner rationale still underlies
much contemporary thinking.
CONT..
 To be a citizen of Athens it was necessary to be a male
aged 20 or over, of known genealogy as being born to an
Athenian citizen family, a patriarch of household, a
warrior – possessing the arms and ability to fight, and a
master of the labour of others – notably slaves .
 So gender, race and class defined citizenship and many
of the main later debates have turned on how far they
continue to do so.
 As a result, large numbers were excluded: women,
children; immigrants or ‘metics’ –including those whose
families had been settled in Athens for several
generations, although they were legally free, liable to
taxation and had military duties; and above all slaves.
CONT..
 Therefore, citizenship was enjoyed by a minority.
 Yet, this was inevitable given the high expectation on
citizens. For, their capacity to perform their
considerable citizenly duties rested on their everyday
needs being looked after by the majority of the
population, particularly women and slaves.
 Aristotle described citizens as those who ‘rule and are
ruled by turns
 Though the duties involved differed between polities and
even different categories of citizen within the same
polity, at some level citizenship involved ‘the power to
take part in the deliberative or judicial administration
CONT..
 In Athens this meant at a minimum participating in the
assembly, which met at least 40 times a year and required
a quorum of 6,000 citizens for plenary sessions, and, for
citizens aged over 30, doing jury service – again, a
frequent responsibility given that juries required 201 or
more members and on some occasions over 501
 Though jury service was paid, jurors were chosen by lot
from among those who presented themselves to discourage
both its becoming a regular income and jury packing
 In addition, there were some 140 local territorial units of
government, or demes, with their own agorai or assembly
points for public discussion of local affairs and passing
local decrees.
CONT..
 Meanwhile, many citizens could not avoid holding
public office at some point.
 Apart from generals, who were elected by the assembly
and could serve multiple terms if successful, public
officers were chosen by lot, served for one or two years
maximum, with key roles often rotated between office
holders.
 These devices aimed to increase the likelihood that all
citizens had an equal chance of exercising political
power, with the short terms of office and the checks
operated by the different bodies on each other ensuring
this power was severely circumscribed.
CONT..
 Yet, though there were no career politicians, citizenship
itself, if one adds military service and participation in
local affairs, was a fairly full occupation.
 Aristotle acknowledged that such forms of citizenship
were only possible in small states.
 That was important not just so everyone could have a
turn at ruling and to keep the tasks of government
sufficiently simple as to be manageable without a
professional bureaucracy or political class, but also
because it was only in smaller settings that the requisite
civic virtues were likely to be fostered.
CONT..
 Although the Athenians probably invented the idea of
taking a vote to settle disagreements, unanimity was the
ideal and most issues were settled by consensus.
 Aristotle surmised that such concord or homonoia
depended on a form of civic friendship among citizens
that was only likely in tightly knit communities.
 Citizens must know each other, share values and have
common interests. Only then will they be able to agree
on what qualities are best for given offices and select the
right people for them, harmoniously resolve disputed
rights, and adopt collective policies unanimously.
CONT..
 Even so, agreement rested on citizens possessing a sense
of justice, being temperate by exercising self-control and
avoiding extremes, having a capacity for prudent
judgment, being motivated by patriotism, so they put the
public good above private advantage, and being
courageous before danger, especially military threats.
 In sum, a citizen must not belong ‘just to himself 'but
also to ‘the polis’.
 Though the Greek model of citizenship was the privilege
of a minority, it provided a considerable degree of
popular control over government.
CONT..
 Therefore Greek citizenship has appeared to many later
thinkers as the epitome of a true condition of political
equality, in which citizens have equal political powers
and so must treat each other with equal concern and
respect.
 They have viewed the trend towards delegating political
tasks to a professional class of politicians and public
administrators with foreboding, a loss of political
freedom and equality.
CONT…
 By contrast, critics of this model of citizenship argue that
it was not so much an ideal as idealized. In reality, it was
doubly oppressive. On the one hand, it rested on the
oppression of slaves, women and other non-citizens.
 On the other hand, it was oppressive of citizens in
demanding they sacrifice their private interests to service
of the state.
 As we saw, the two forms of oppression were linked:
citizens could only dedicate themselves to public life
because their private lives were serviced by others.
CONT..
 Later liberal commentators have condemned these last
features of Greek republican citizenship as potentially
despotic
 They criticize not just the way non-citizens got treated as less
than fully human, but also the demand for the total
identification of citizens with the state, with all dissent seen
as indicative of self-interest rather than an alternative point
of view or valid concern.
 They castigate such regimes as both repressive and corrupt in
diverting all talent away from the private sphere of the
economy on which the wealth of a society rests.
 Ironically, making the public sphere the main avenue of
personal advancement did not prevent but promoted the
abuse of power for private gain.
CONT..
 They trace these problems to a flawed view of liberty
that falsely links freedom with civic participation.
 Aristotle’s defense of this linkage rested on a
perfectionist account of human flourishing, with civic
involvement a means to human self-realization, whereby
individual and collective autonomy can be reconciled by
subsuming private interests under the public interest.
 Many liberals reject such ‘positive’ conceptions of
liberty as suggesting human freedom lies in the pursuit
of particular ends.
CONT..
 Instead, they advocate a `negative’ conception that
consists of being free from interference to pursue one’s
personal good in one’s own way.
 They claim freedom of this latter sort merely requires a
just constitutional regime that limits the power of
government to maximizing freedom from mutual
interference and has no intrinsic link with democracy.
ANCIENT ROME
 Eligibility for Roman citizenship was at first similar to the
criteria for Greek citizenship - citizens had to be native
free men who were the legitimate sons of other native free
men.
 Some right citizens enjoyed in ancient Rome includes;
 The right to vote in the republic
 The right to make legal contract
 The right to have lawful marriage
 Exemption from torture
 The right to have a trial (to appear before a proper court and to
defend oneself).
 A Roman citizen couldn't be sentenced to death unless he was
found guilty of treason. If accused of treason, a Roman citizen
had the right to be tried in Rome.
CONT..
 Beginning in the reign of Julius Caesar, colonies and
were established outside the Italian peninsula. Then
Roman civitas was extended to provinces, granting
Roman citizenship to soldiers and aristocrats of
provincial origin which hastened the pace of
Romanization in the western provinces.
 However through time the significance of Roman
citizenship declined in the empire, because military
service was no longer compulsory, and suffrage was
invalidated by the abolition of republican
government.
CONT..
 In 212AD the Edict of Caracalla granted citizenship to
all free inhabitants of the empire.
 Hence citizenship became no longer a status symbol for
political participation rather it was reduced to a judicial
safeguard and the expression of rule and law.
 But, active citizenship rights were still only given to the
higher classes and thus citizenship was still, in part, seen
as a status symbol.
CONT..
 Particularly as Rome expanded – initially within Italy,
then over the rest of Europe and finally into Africa and
Asia - two important innovations came about.
 First, the populations of conquered territories were given
a version of Roman citizenship while being allowed to
retain their own forms of government, including
whatever citizenship status they offered.
 Second, the version of Roman citizenship given was of a
legal rather than a political kind – ‘civitas sinesuffragio’
or ‘citizenship without the vote’.
CONT..
 So, the Empire allowed dual citizenship, though it
reduced Roman citizenship to a legal status. As a result,
the legal and political communities pulled apart.
 The scope of law went beyond political borders and did
not need to be co-extensive with a given territorial unit.
 According to the Aristotelian ideal, political citizenship
had depended on being freed from the burdens of
economic and social life – both in order to participate
and to ensure that public rather than private interests
were the object of concern.
CONT..
 By contrast, legal citizenship has private interests and
their protection at its heart.
 Within Roman law, legal status belonged to the owners
of property and, by extension, their possessions. Since
these included slaves, a free person was one who owned
himself.
 So conceived, as in many respects it remains to this day,
law was about how we could use ourselves and our
things and those of others, and the use they may make of
us and our things.
CONT..
 However, that the rule of law can be detached from the
rule of persons, in that those subject to it do not have to
be involved in either its making or its administration,
creates disadvantages as well as advantages.
 The advantage is that the legal community can, as we
saw, encompass a number of political communities and
hold their rulers and officers to account, thereby limiting
their tendency to act against the law.
CONT..
 The disadvantage lies in these same citizens becoming
the imperial subjects of the law’s empire, who are ruled
by it rather than ruling themselves.
 Law can have many sources and enforcers, and different
laws and legal systems will apply to different groups of
persons and have differing costs and benefits for each of
them.
 If law's empire depends on an emperor, then the danger
is that law becomes a means for imperial rule rather than
rule of and for the public.
MEDIEVAL CITIZENSHIP AS EQUAL
LEGAL STATUS
 In medieval period the institution of citizenship
remained once again the privilege confined to the few
 The citizenry were the skilled tradesmen and the
merchants, the economic lifeblood of the city.
 Citizenship was generally only inherited, but it could be
granted to individuals or to families, usually as
recognition for some extraordinary service to the city.
 Citizens were required to serve in fire brigades and street
patrols. In times of war they manned the walls and
served in the city militia. Only citizens had to pay taxes.
 The citizens were the real caretakers of the city's prestige
and reputation, ethics and the common will.
FEUDALISM, SERFDOM, AND THE DISCOURSE
ON ‘SUBJECT’

 Feudalism is a term used to describe the type of

economic and political arrangement that dominated the
highest levels of society in medieval Europe.
 In feudalism, a lord gave his most trusted men (vassals)
land and power over all the people living there, and in
return they swore loyalty to him and promised to give
him a share of their taxes and provide military support
whenever called upon.
 Among the defining elements of social life in feudalism
was the institution of serfdom.
CONT…
 It is a condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant
farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the
will of his landlord.
 In medieval period the institution of citizenship accessed
to a small number population in a state.
 The mass were relegated to the status of “subject” to
the will of rulers. Accordingly the term subject is
become usual to describe the status of the mass in
medieval period as far as the discourse of citizenship is
concerned.
MODERN CITIZENSHIP
THE MAKING OF MODERN DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP

 The modern notion of citizenship is highly related with

the rise of the demands of the people for escalated
freedom and involvement in political, economic, cultural
and social affairs of their respective state.
 The contribution of the French Revolution and the
American War of Independence in the development of
citizenship was indeed considerable
 Through course of time, the notion of citizenship came to
be accepted as an instrument to enhance individual
liberties, popular government, political equality and
participation.
 This means that the status of citizenship grew from city-
state to nation-state implying a resident of one state.
CONT…
CHAPTER THREE:
APPROACHES TO CITIZENSHIP

 Recently, citizenship has been a centre of attention in

political theory. Particularly the post world war II
developments with their multifaceted effect forced the
intellectual arena to consider new dynamics dealing with
definitions and explanations.
 In sum, there are different meanings attached to the
concept of citizenship. Hence once again Citizenship
remains to be a contested and sensitive issue.
 The interpretations and meanings connected with it vary
in different societies and in different political as well as
ideological thoughts.
2.1.1 THE REPUBLICAN APPROACH

 Its main focus is the conception of man as citizen, that is,

"as someone that understands himself in relation to the
state, believing that the guarantee of liberty lies in the
commitment to the republican institutions in meeting
their duties to the community.
 Republicans attach much value to the political
institutions because they feel that they are a means to
develop autonomy
 They consider democracy as a deliberative engagement
CONT…
 Individual rights take second place
 Rights are conceived to be created by the political
process of formation of will, and not presupposed.
 The citizen is conceived as an eminently participative
 The thoughtful exercise of power by citizens is the only
legitimate way to defend freedom.
 For this perspective, the exercise of citizenship is the
best that a person can aspire to.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE
REPUBLICAN MODEL.

 Republican liberty: The republicans consider freedom

to be based on plurality
 Republican equality: Freedom and equality are a set that
cannot be separated, without one the other could be not
achieved and vice- versa.
 Republican justice : , the rights of citizens are mutually
recognized by consensus among all and referred to in the
law.
 Self-government and citizen control of power

 Deliberative citizenship

 Active republican citizenship

THE LIBERAL APPROACH
 According to the liberalists, Citizenship meant being
protected by the law rather than participating in its
formulation or execution.
 Citizenship is as an institution that make individuals
bearer of right and duties.
 They consider citizenship primarily as a legal status
 Political liberty is important as a means to protecting
individual freedoms from interference by other individuals
or the authorities themselves
 Primacy of the individual and his/her rights against any
collective imposition
 Civic engagement is subordinate to fulfilling individual
ends.
FEATURES OF THE LIBERAL MODEL
 Individualism: for liberalism, there are no groups, but
only individuals where individual rights have
precedence. Where as the most salient feature of
affirmative liberalism is respect for other individuals
and, hence, for the common good, social rights
 Liberal citizenship makes individual rights absolute
 Neutrality of the State, justice and the common good
THE COMMUNITARIAN APPROACH
 Communitarians argue that the identity of citizens cannot
be understood outside the territory in which they live,
their culture and traditions, arguing that the basis of its
rules and procedures and legal policy is the shared
common good.
 The good of the Community is much above individual
rights.
 Therefore, the State must provide a policy for the
common good,
 So for the communitarians citizenship comes from the
community identity, enabling people to participate
CONT…
 The political subject is designed to belong to a particular
community, where identity is given to him to be part of a
group.
 The citizen is first a subject of rights, a member of a
community of memory and beliefs that precedes it, and
owing allegiance and commitment.
 The state cannot be neutral as claimed by the liberal
position, but has to fit the particular lifestyle of each
community.
CONT…
 The State must intervene with a strong cultural policy to
preserve the dominant conception of the good in the
community, which is compatible with tolerance of
minorities, although it motivates them positively for
their integration into the hegemonic community.
PRINCIPLES ASSOCIATED WITH CIVIC
COMMUNITARIANS
1. The individual is an essentially social being.
2. The good is prior to justice.
3. Knowledge of human good cannot be reached
spontaneously and cannot be learned only through
solitary introspection
4. Knowledge of the organization of society depends on
an integral vision of the good of the community.
THE RADICAL DEMOCRATIC
APPROACH

 It is an understanding that considers citizenship as the

political identity that is created through identification
with the respublica(state).
 It deals with a type of political identity and a form of
identification.
 It is a common political identity of persons who might be
engaged in many different purposive enterprises and
with differing conceptions of the good, but who accept
submission to the rules prescribed by the respublica
in seeking their satisfactions and in performing their
actions.
CONT…
 In this case, citizenship is not just one identity among
others —as in liberalism—or the dominant identity that
overrides all others—as in civic republicanism, it is an
articulating principle that affects the different subject
positions of the social agent while allowing for a
plurality of specific allegiances and for the respect of
individual liberty.
CONT…
 The creation of political identities as a radical
democratic citizen depends, therefore, on a collective
form of identification among the democratic demands
found in a variety of movements: women, workers,
black, ecological, as well as in several other new social
movements.
CONT…
 This is a conception of citizenship that through a
common identification with a radical democratic
interpretation of the principles of liberty and equality
aims at constructing a "we," a chain of equivalence
among their demands so as to articulate them through the
principle of democratic equivalence.
CONT…
 In the radical democratic view, the public/private is not
abandoned but reformulated.
 The distinction between private (individual liberty) and
public (respublica) is maintained but they do not correspond
to separate spheres.
 We cannot say: here end my duties as a citizen and begin my
freedoms as an individual.
 Those two identities exist in a permanent tension that can
never be reconciled. But this is precisely the tension between
liberty and equality that characterizes modern democracy.
 It is the very life of such a regime, and any attempt to bring
about a perfect harmony, to realize a "true" democracy, can
only lead to its destruction.
 CHAPTER FOUR
MEMBERSHIP AND BELONGING: BEING AND BECOMING

 The term membership can refer to belonging to or being

affiliated with a group, informal, or formal, in any sector
of society.
 Membership thus implies being in some sense a part of
or supportive of a group.
 It is strongly tied with sense of belonging that entails our
understanding of how people give meaning to their lives.
 Our sense of identity is founded on social interactions
that show our belonging to particular communities
through shared beliefs, values, or practices.
CONT…
 At a very basic level, who we are is defined by the social
networks and communities to which we belong.
 When asked to describe ourselves, we reply by talking
about our relationships to people and places as sons,
mothers, husbands, or friends; as members of nations,
ethnic groups, or neighborhoods as employees; as
consumers of certain brands and the lifestyles that go
with them.
 Through membership within these groups we make
statements about the kinds of people, beliefs and values
that we want to be associated with and, ultimately, the
kinds of people we are.
CONT…
 These beliefs and values can be made explicit, as in the
case of religious groups or political parties, or they can be
embedded in the activities and practices that characterize
the group
 Defining who we are not is often just as important as
defining who we are. In subtle and complex ways, our
lives as individuals only become meaningful through our
associations with others.
 Developing a sense of belonging is an ongoing process
that involves membership in, or exclusion from, a wide
variety of different groups during the course of our lives
 In addition, the importance of belonging to particular
groups changes over time
 FROM SUBJECT TO CITIZEN THE INTERNAL DIMENSION
OF INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION

 The World Summit for Social Development

(Copenhagen 1995) defines an inclusive society as a
“society for all in which every individual, each with
rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play”.
 Such an inclusive society must be based on respect for
all human rights and fundamental freedoms, cultural and
religious diversity, social justice and the special needs of
vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, democratic
participation and the rule of law.
CONT…
 It is promoted by social policies that seek to reduce
inequality and create flexible and tolerant societies
that embrace all people.
 Using a social inclusion lens, we must consider whether
people have access to society’s assets. This includes
access to necessities, such as:
-Food
-Suitable housing
-Essential material goods
-Health, medical care
CONT…
We also need to consider whether people have access to
participatory activities, such as:
 Employment
 Education
 Arts and cultural activities
 Elections, Consultations, and Decision-making groups
 On the other hand social exclusion is defined here as the
involuntary exclusion of individuals and groups from
society’s political, economic and societal processes,
which prevents their full participation in the society in
which they live.
CONT…
 According to scholars exclusionary processes operate
along and interact across four main dimensions –
 Economic,
 Political,
 Social and Cultural
 And at different levels including
 Individual,
 Household,
 Group,
 Community,
 Country
 Global regional levels.
CONT…
 In its earliest incarnation in the ancient city-state of
Athens, the concept of citizenship implied a
‘community of equals’. However, the community in
question was a highly bounded one. Only those men with
the material means, personal breeding and leisure to
perform their civic duties counted as citizens.
 Citizenship in medieval period was also highly selective,
confined to residents of the city who had freed
themselves from feudal relations of servitude.
CONT…
 The ideas of the Enlightenment with its assertion of
free will and individual conscience brought modern
ideas about citizenship into existence.
 The French Revolution remains the most potent symbol
of the struggle to establish a notion of citizenship based
on civil and political rights against the claims of the
feudal order
CONT…
 The concept of citizenship was also made more inclusive
through the broadening of the rights of the citizen to
include social rights.
 While membership of village communities, towns and
guilds had offered some degree of social security in the
pre-industrial period, this had been eroded by the spread
of capitalist market relations.
 However, the diminution of inequality which
accompanied the growing prosperity of the entire society
and the compression of the economic distance between
classes led to a growing demand for an abolition of
inequality, at least with regard to the essentials of social
welfare.
CONT…
 The experiences of the colonized countries form a
marked contrast to this scenario.
 The practice of citizenship by the colonial powers at
home bore very little relationship to their practice in
their colonies.
 As a result, not only did they fail to challenge pre-
existing hierarchies based on tradition, custom and
‘moral economy’, they actively strengthened and reified
them through the defining powers of a modern state
apparatus and a codified system of law.
CONT…
 Consequently, colonized populations achieved national
independence organized as religious, ethnic and tribal
communities with immutable interests and collective
rights, ‘apparently eternal and enduring elements of their
societies’, rather than as individual and free citizens.
 The idea of citizenship as rooted in an ontology of
personhood which recognizes individuals as bearing
rights which are prior to, and independent of, their place
in status hierarchies, still has only shallow roots in many
of these societies.
CONT,..
 Kinship remains a central organizing institution,
structuring politics, religion, economy and social
relationships, and rendering the distinction between
public and private irrelevant
 PROPERTY AND THE PROPERTIES OF
CITIZENSHIP

 Property and citizenship are intimately related in their

constitution. The core element of both is recognition.
 Property is about relationships among social actors with
regard to objects of value.
 Property is essentially distinguished from mere momentary
possession or longer-term access by virtue of being
recognized by others, through enforcement by society or
government, and by custom, convention, or law.
 Property and citizenship are central gate-keeping functions of
any state; they engage the questions of who can have rights,
and what rights can they have.
 Citizenship and belonging can be avenues to secure
property, and property may bolster claims of belonging
and citizenship
GENDER AND THE FEMINIST CRITIQUE ON
CITIZENSHIP CONCEPT AND PRACTICES

 Because of its contentious and contested character,

citizenship is always dynamic and is best understood as
an ongoing process or a struggle about the creation of
rights, duties, and opportunities.
 In ancient Greece, Aristotle conceived of citizenship as a
male status and virtue; women, together with slaves,
were non-citizens, excluded from political participation.
 Subsequent civic republican writers, such as Machiavelli
and Rousseau, likewise conceived of the virtues and
duties of citizenship in masculine terms.
CONT…
 The first wave of feminism was originated in the late
eighteen century
 Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the pioneers to argue
for women’s nature, rationality and the right to
education.
 According to Wollstonecraft, sexism is debilitating to
men because it allows them to gain more from
oppression than their own efforts.
CONT…
 The first-wave feminists used the liberal conception of
citizenship as a primary intellectual weapon in their
struggle for equality, individual rights and freedoms.
 Eventually, it ended up in extended voting rights for
women and the extension of the rights of citizenship.
 They took on liberal notions of universalism and formal
equality to claim that gender differences should be
irrelevant and that woman should not be excluded
from citizenship.
CONT…
 However, the liberal notion of citizenship did not
transform the lives for many women to that degree as
many feminists had hoped. Hence the second wave
ensued.
 The border between the first-and second wave of
feminism came with the publication of Simone de
Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1953).
 Attention was now called to classical liberal beliefs of
humanism, equality and reason.
CONT…
 The main feature of second-wave feminism was the
recognition that power is found in private as well as
in public life.
 ‘The personal is Political’ reflects the many ways
feminists’ attempted to overcome the oppression in the
private sphere.
 This second activism also focused on abortion rights,
legislation, litigation and affirmative action
CONT…
 Third wave feminism is a contemporary phenomenon.
 It rejects the practice of categorizing feminism as
reflections of existing western political theories
 Third wave activism makes room for a number of voices,
they argue from post-modern theories as well as the
authenticity of differing personal experiences.
 Third wave feminism would be based on more than
gender.
 They will combine and reflect complex realities of
ethnical, sexual and class differences.
NATIONALITY, ETHNICITY, AND
MULTICULTURALISM
 Nationality refers to a people having a common spiritual
and psychological sentiment. Such sentiment grows out of
commonness of birth, residence, language, religion,
historical unity, traditions, culture, etc. When a portion of
people feel themselves united and also feel that they are
different and distinct from other similar groups, they form
a nationality.
 Nationality emphasizes the commonness of birth and unity
of language, race, religion, cultural heritage, customs and
traditions etc. without reference to political unity.
 The people belonging to a nationality, according to
Gilchrist, put more emphasis on similarities among
themselves and their difference from other men.
CONT…
 They also develop a social heritage, an art and a
literature of their own distinct from those of others.
 A nationality transforms into a nation when it aspires to
political self-determination or actually organizes itself
into a state.
THEORIES OF NATIONALISM
MODERNIZATION THEORIES
 Most theories of nationalism assert the modern character
of the phenomenon and account for its appearance and
development by reference to a variety of factors
associated with modernity.
 In general terms modernization theories maintain that
nationalism emerges as a result of the process of
transition from traditional to modern society;
 Some of these theories focus more specifically on the
spread of industrialization, and on the socio-economic,
political and cultural conditions functionally associated
with it, as the main cause for the development of
nationalism.
CONT…
 With overlapping accounts it is possible to identify three
major types of modernization thought
1. Social communication thought
2. Economistic thought
3. Politico-ideological thought
SOCIAL COMMUNICATION THOUGHT
 It deals with the growth of nations and nationalism in the
context of the transition from traditional to modern
societies
 Its implications of is that modern nation-states are likely
to absorb or assimilate the languages and cultures of the
subordinated ethnies or national minorities within their
borders.
 The most appropriate political structure to achieve
advanced modernization is the nation-state.
 National identity is best fostered and preserved in the
context of modernization.
 By giving a fixity to language it is possible to develop the
idea of the antiquity of one’s nation.
ECONOMISTIC THOUGHT
 The starting point of the economic conception of the
nation is the assumption that national consciousness is
fundamentally a type of false consciousness.
 In other words, that underneath the idea of the nation lie
economic interests.
 Economism is an extremely popular form of explanation
and as such is favored by Marxists and non-Marxists
alike.
 Their common denominator is that they deny the specific
character of the national fact.
 For Marxists the nation is not a central category of social
existence, but rather a transitory institution created by the
bourgeoisie.
POLITICO-IDEOLOGICAL THOUGHTS
 They consider nationalism as a consequence of the
development of the modern state and of the international
state system.
 The advent of nationalism is related to the first wave of
modernization which started in the sixteenth century
which focused up on the formation of the Western
European states and at the level of the religious and
political struggles that characterized the early modern
period.
 In all its history, the modern state has shaped nationalist
politics and has been central to the making of nationalism.
 Therefore nations precede nationalism.
ETHNICITY
 To define ethnicity it is more substantive to center the
analysis on individual level of identity. Accordingly
ethnicity is a social-psychological process which gives
an individual a sense of belonging and identity.
 It is, of course, one of a number of social phenomena
which produce a sense of identity.
 Ethnic identity can be defined as a manner in which
persons, on account of their ethnic origin, locate
themselves psychologically in relation to one or more
social systems, and in which they perceive others as
locating them in relation to those systems.
CONT…
 By ethnic origin is meant either that a person has been
socialized in an ethnic group or that his or her ancestors,
real or symbolic, have been members of the group.
 The social systems may be one's ethnic community or
society at large, or other ethnic communities and other
societies or groups, or a combination of all these
THEORIES OF ETHNICITY:
PRIMORDIALISM
 Primordialism assumes that group identity is a given.
That there exist in all societies certain primordial,
irrational attachments based on blood, race, language,
religion, region, etc.
 They are, in the words ineffable and yet coercive ties,
which are the result of a long process of crystallization.
 Modern states, particularly, but not exclusively, in the
Third World, are superimposed on the primordial
realities which are the ethnic groups or communities
CONT…
 Therefore according to primodalists:
 Primordial identities are natural or given.

 Primordial identities are ineffable, that is,

cannot be explained or analyzed by referring to

social interaction, but are coercive.
 Primordial identities deal essentially with

sentiments or affections.
CONT..
 According to Harold Isaacs, with in the premodalist paradigm the
existence of a basic group identity which, for each individual, is the
result of being born into a group at a certain historical time.
 There are a number of elements which contribute to the basic identity
of each person:
I. The physical body (which includes skin colour, size, type of hair and
facial traits).
II. The person’s name (an individual name, a family name and a group
name).
III. The language one learns first to speak and with which one discovers the
world.
IV. The religion one is indoctrinated into.
V. The history and origins of the group one is born into.
VI. One’s nationality, or ethnic affiliation.
VII. The geography of the place of birth.
VIII. The culture that one inherits.
INSTRUMENTALIST THEORIES
 Instrumentalists believe that ethnic identity is flexible
and variable; that both the content and boundaries of an
ethnic group change according to circumstances
 Under the label of instrumentalism one can range a
variety of approaches which are based on the idea that
ethnicity is the result of economic, social or political
processes, and hence that it is by definition a flexible and
highly adaptable tool.
CONT..
 Ethnic groups have no fixed boundaries; they are rather
collective entities which change in size according to
changing conditions.
 As to individuals, not only they are not assigned
permanently to an ethnic group, but they can be
members of more than one at the same time.
 Ethnicity is then seen as dynamic.

 Some instrumentalists insist that ethnic affiliation is

simply a ploy to promote economic interests, and that
individuals are ready to change group membership if that
suits their sense of security or their economic interests.
CONT…
 According to Fredrik Barth within the instrumentalist
paradigm
1. Ethnicity is envisaged not as an expression of a vague
culture, but as a form of social organization. In any case, it
referred to culture; it emphasizes the cultural differences
between groups.
2. The main focus of research is the boundary that defines the
group, as well as the process of recruitment of its members,
and not the characteristics of the culture of the group.
Boundaries have to be understood in the symbolic and
social sense of the term.
3. Boundary maintenance is thus essential for the ethnic group
and it is not primordial, but rather the outcome of specific
ecological, economic, historical or political situations.
CONT…
4. In terms of identity ethnic groups are characterized by both
ascription and self- ascription. Constraint only follows
when members accept to form part of the group.
5. The cultural features chosen by the members of a group to
differentiate themselves from other groups, that is, to
establish a boundary, are to a certain extent arbitrary.
6. Ethnic groups are mobilized, not so much by popular will but
to a great extent by ethnic entrepreneurs or leaders.
CONT…
 Following on Barth’s approach, it is possible to
distinguish four major levels of ethnicity:
 Micro: it looks into how the identity is formed and
experienced by individuals in the context of integrating
with other individuals.
 Median: it examines the formation and mobilization of
groups. At this level the key focus should be on
leadership and entrepreneurship. Stereotypes are often
important at this level. The median level exerts a
constraint on the micro level, shaping the way in which
individuals express their identity.
CONT..
 Macro: it considers how the state affects ethnic groups
through legal frameworks and specific policies, as well
as through the use of force and the threat of force. At the
ideological level the state has also a vast machinery
(schools, media, etc) to control and manipulate
information and to imprint particular ethnic/national
worldviews.
 Global: it investigates recent developments which are
based on the emergence of a global discourse on human
rights, the increasing role of the United Nations as a
peace keeper and a peace enforcer and of the NGOs.
 All these elements have added a new dimension to
ethnicity.
CHAPTER FIVE
CITIZENSHIP AND DEMOCRACY

 Democracy as a way of organizing the state has come to

be narrowly identified with territorially based
competitive elections of political leadership for
legislative and executive offices.
Yet, the central ideals of democratic politics involves:
 Facilitating active political involvement of the citizenry

 Forging political consensus through dialogue

 Devising and implementing public policies that ground a

productive economy and healthy society assuring that all
citizens benefit from the nation’s wealth.
CONT…
 Citizenship is about the production and maintenance of
democratic publics.
 Citizenship under democracy often connotes a kind of
active participation
 Conceptions of democratic citizenship are themselves
highly varied
 One can imagine a kind of continuum, from minimalist
and restrictive liberal democracies to rather more
participatory multicultural democracies.
CONT…
 Democratic citizenship is about reasoned deliberation,
 It promotes civic participation in decision-making justly
and equitably distributing political and economic power
and hence facilitates cultural inclusiveness.
DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY AND
CITIZENSHIP
 Deliberative democracy is a trend that conceives citizen
as both the subject of the law and its author.
 A person cannot complain that their rights have been
violated when they themselves have freely agreed to the
interference in their liberty.
 Thus, for a law to be legitimate it must enjoy the united
and consenting will of all.
 Democracy, according to the deliberative model, is a
system of government that gives each citizen genuinely
equal share in the exercise of power.
CONT…
Crucially, it requires that laws are introduced only where
a consensus exists following public deliberation and
reasoned argument between citizens as to what should be
done.
 In democratic process of decision-making, reasons not
votes should be the most important factor
CONT..
 Among deliberative democrats, at least two approaches
to deliberation can be distinguished:
I. Procedural or institution-centered approach: that
gives a purely formal account of deliberation
perceiving it as an ideal procedure for justifying and
legitimizing the democratic process;
The procedural approach focus their attention on the
necessary conditions that need to be met for such a
procedure to work.
CONT…
 They consider constitutional assemblies, legislatures,
juries, courts, and public hearings as the most
significant venues for deliberation
II. Non-procedural, and more practical approach : that
locates deliberation in specific arenas of civil society
and other venues.
Democracy can become more deliberative if various
associations are involved in the decision-making
process.
Deliberation can be located in specific organizations and
practices, among them civic and political organizations
and “deliberative opinion polls”
CONT..
 In general deliberative democrats contend that a truly
democratic law must not only be enacted by duly elected
representatives of an informed electorate, but must also
be adopted for the right ‘‘type of reasons’’
THE END OF CITIZENSHIP
 There is s growing challenge on the concept of
citizenship, as far as its essence is concerned.
 Since the twentieth century individual allegiance
towards a state is becoming problematic.
 Citizenship is destined to lose its function of excluding
people.
 Possible factors: 1. Economic globalization

2. Political globalization and

3. supranational developments;
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP AND GLOBAL CIVICS THE
FORMAL DIMENSIONS OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
 Citizenship beyond national borders.
 The formal dimension of citizenship seems hard to
transfer to an international level.
 Although there is no formal legislation for a global state,
ideas for global legislation have been around for
hundreds of years
 It is citizen’s individual duty towards humanity

 Humanity’s rights and obligations extend beyond

national borders.
 prominent example of cross-border legislation is the
universal declaration of human rights.
THE MORAL DIMENSION OF GLOBAL
CITIZENSHIP
 The moral dimension of citizenship is easier to lift to a
global level than the formal dimension
 The moral dimension is disconnected from the authority
of nation states.
 People have rights and obligations towards each other
irrespective of any political authority
 Areas of operation may include social justice, equality or
ecological sustainability….
CHAPTER SIX

Citizenship in Africa and

Ethiopia
THE BASIS OF CITIZENSHIP LAW IN
AFRICA
 The laws governing citizenship in most African countries
—as in most countries in the world—reflect a
compromise between two basic concepts: jussoli
(literally, law or right of the soil), whereby an individual
obtains citizenship because he or she was born in a
particular country; and jus sanguinis (law or right of
blood), where citizenship is based on descent from
parents who themselves are or were citizens.
 In addition to these two principles based on birth, two
other factors are influential in determining citizenship for
adults: marital status, in that marriage to a citizen of
another country can lead to the acquisition of the spouse’s
citizenship, and residence within a country’s borders.
CONT..
 Some states are still using laws that were adopted at or
soon after independence and have been little changed
since; others have undertaken comprehensive reforms,
often in the context of a general constitutional review;
yet others have adopted a series of amendments to their
existing laws—most often to introduce partial or total
gender equality—sometimes leading to complex
provisions that seem to contradict themselves and create
corresponding difficulties in determining an individual’s
position.
CONT..
 There is a common distinction in law and practice
between citizenship “from birth” and citizenship “by
acquisition.”
 Citizenship from birth/by origin may be based either on
descent (jus sanguinis) or on birth in the country (jus
soli), but implies that a child has a citizenship from the
moment of birth without any further procedures required
for its recognition by the state.
 In most cases citizenship by acquisition relates to those
who have become citizens as adults, as a result of
marriage or naturalization.
CONT..
 However, in some countries there is a distinction drawn at birth
itself among children of mixed parentage, with the children of
citizen fathers being citizens from birth, and the children of
citizen mothers only having the right to acquire citizenship
following an administrative procedure(which must sometimes
be completed before majority).
 In many countries, the rights of those who are citizens from
birth or by acquisition are the same; but others apply
distinctions, especially in relation to the holding of public office.
 In addition, citizenship by acquisition may often be more easily
withdrawn.
 Gender discrimination in relation to the award of citizenship
from birth/of origin may thus be highly significant to the
exercise of other rights.
NATURALIZATION IN AFRICAN
CITIZENSHIP LAWS
 Most African countries permit in principle the
acquisition of citizenship by naturalization.
 In many there is also the possibility or alternative for
some people, such as spouses of citizens, to acquire
citizenship by an easier process, usually known as
“registration” in Commonwealth countries, or
“declaration” or “option” in civil-law countries.
 In practice, however, obtaining citizenship by
naturalization or by these other processes can be very
difficult.
CONT..
 The criteria on which naturalization or registration is
granted vary, but usually include long-term residence or
marriage to a citizen.
 In some countries, acquiring citizenship by
naturalization is straightforward, at least in theory.
 More than 20 countries provide for a right to naturalize
based on legal residence of five years; but Chad, Nigeria,
Sierra Leone, and Uganda require 15 or 20 years, and the
Central African Republic requires as many as35 years.
CONT..
 South Africa provides a two-step process: a person must
first become a permanent resident, a process which usually
takes five years; following acquisition of permanent
residence, a further five years’ residence is required to
become a citizen (except for spouses).
 In many countries, investigations are required, including
interviews and police inquiries.
 Under the 2004 nationality law adopted by the DRC,
applications for naturalization must be considered by the
Council of Ministers and submitted to the National
Assembly before being awarded by presidential decree;
moreover, the individual must have rendered “distinguished
service”(d’éminents services) to the country.
CONT..
 In Egypt, naturalization is exceedingly rare and the
grounds for it discriminate in favour of those who are of
Arab or Muslim heritage.
 Although obtaining a presidential decree in some
countries involves only a routine administrative
procedure, the requirement does leave a great deal of
discretionary power in the executive branch.
 Similarly, some countries add requirements based on
cultural assimilation, in particular knowledge of the
national language(s).
CONT..
 Ethiopia’s 1930 Nationality Law, though now repealed, was
the most extreme example: it required an applicant to “know
[the] Amharic language perfectly, speaking and writing it
fluently”; today, the 2003 Proclamation on Ethiopian
Nationality requires only the ability to “communicate in any
one of the languages of the nations/nationalities of the
Country.”
 Egypt requires an applicant for naturalization to “be
knowledgeable in Arabic.” Botswana requires a knowledge of
Setswana or another language spoken by a “tribal
community” in Botswana; Ghana requires knowledge of an
indigenous Ghanaian language; and other countries have
similar requirements. In practice, these laws are in some cases
used to restrict citizenship on an ethnic basis.
CONT..
 Acquiring citizenship by naturalization may be very
difficult even where the rules are not onerous on paper.
 In Sierra Leone, for example, citizenship by
naturalization is in theory possible after an (already-
long) 15-year legal residence period; in practice it is
nearly impossible to obtain.
 According to available records, in the whole of Sierra
Leone there are roughly a hundred naturalized citizens.
 In Madagascar, naturalization is very difficult to obtain
for those not of ethnic Malagasy origin.
CONT..
 Among the groups most seriously affected by
deficiencies in laws for naturalization are long-term
refugees.
 The record of African countries in granting citizenship to
long-term refugee populations varies greatly, and many
countries do not have laws that establish procedures for
refugees to acquire permanent residence and citizenship.
In Egypt, the case of the Palestinian refugees stands out.
 A 1959 decision by the Arab League that the Palestinian
refugees should not be granted citizenship in their states
of refuge has prevented them from integrating into the
societies where they live.
CONT..
 The Western Saharan refugees in Algeria face a similar
political problem in finding any long-term resolution to
their situation.
 Even countries that have recently adopted refugee laws
and procedures stop short of drawing on international
best practice when it comes to providing for
naturalization of refugee populations.
 Even though the general law may theoretically provide a
right to naturalization, this may not be available in
practice, as in the case of Kenya.
CONT..
 There is, however, movement in some other countries toward
allowing for the acquisition of citizenship by refugees. South
Africa’s law does, notably, provide for a transfer of status from
refugee to permanent resident to naturalized citizen; though
problems are reported in this process in practice.
 Tanzania has made generous provision for long-term refugees from
Rwanda, Burundi, and Somalia to become citizens.
 The most effective implementation of states’ obligations under
international refugee law to promote national integration of refugees
is by those states where the general naturalization law is generous,
with only a short period of permanent residence required for
naturalization and a functioning system to implement this rule.
 Senegal has provisions to this effect for refugees from neighboring
states. But these examples are too few and far between and leave too
many refugees excluded.
DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN AFRICAN
CITIZENSHIP LAWS
 At independence, most African countries took the
decision that dual citizenship should not be allowed.
 Increasingly, however, an African diaspora with roots in
individual African countries, in addition to the earlier
involuntary diaspora of slavery, has grown to match the
European and Asian migrations.
 These “hyphenated” Africans, whose roots are both in an
African country and a European or American one, have
brought political pressure to bear on their“ home”
governments to change the rules on dual citizenship and
concede that someone with two identities need not
necessarily be disloyal to either state.
CONT..
 In addition, there are increasing numbers of Africans
with connections to two African countries
 In recent years, many African states have changed their
rules to allow dual citizenship or are in the process of
considering such changes.
 Among those that have changed the rules in the last
decade or so are Angola, Burundi, Djibouti, Gabon,
Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, São
Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Uganda.
Others, including Egypt, Eritrea, and South Africa, allow
dual citizenship but only with the official permission of
the government.
CONT..
 Today just under half of all African countries still prohibit
dual citizenship on paper—though in many cases the rules
are not enforced, so that a citizen can acquire another
citizenship without facing adverse consequences in practice.
 Some African countries—notably Ghana and Ethiopia—
have created an intermediate status for members of their
diaspora, in addition to or instead of creating a right to dual
nationality.
 Many countries have rules prohibiting those with dual
citizenship or who are naturalized citizens rather than
citizens from birth from holding senior public office on the
grounds that the loyalty of such persons should not be
divided.
CONT..
 In Ghana, dual citizens may not hold a set of listed
senior positions; in Senegal and several other countries,
they may not be president; and in Côted’ Ivoire, the
constitution prohibits those who have ever held another
citizenship from becoming the president of the republic
or the president or vice president(speaker and deputy
speaker) of parliament.
 Mozambique has a prohibition on naturalized citizens’
being deputies or members of the government or
working in the diplomatic or military services.
REVOCATION OF CITIZENSHIP AND EXPULSION
OF CITIZENS IN AFRICAN CONTEXT
 Provisions allowing a state to revoke citizenship
acquired by naturalization case of fraud or other abuse of
process, or if the person joins the military or diplomatic
service of another state, are relatively common
throughout the world and are permitted by the 1961 UN
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
 Even in these cases, however, minimum standards of due
process should be applied, including the right to
challenge the decision in a court of law.
CONT..
 Revocation of citizenship from birth is far more
problematic. More than 20 African countries do not
allow revocation of citizenship enjoyed from birth,
including Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chad,
Comoros, Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland,
Tanzania, and Uganda.
 A dozen others allow revocation of citizenship from birth
only in the case where the person acquires another
citizenship (Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, DRC,
Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritania, Senegal,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe).
CONT…
 Some countries, however, provide sweeping powers for
revocation of citizenship, even citizenship from birth.
 These powers go well beyond the question of fraud or
service to a foreign state.
 The Egyptian nationality law, for example, gives
extensive powers to the government to revoke
citizenship, whether from birth or by naturalization,
including on grounds that an individual has acquired
another citizenship without the permission of the
minister of the interior, enrolled in the military of
another country, worked in various ways against the
interests of the state, or been “described as … a Zionist
at any time.”
CONT..
 Even in those countries where citizenship may be taken
only from those who have become citizens by
naturalization, the grounds are often very broad, and
extend far beyond cases in which citizenship might have
been acquired by fraud.
 The decision to deprive someone of citizenship is not
always subject to appeal or court review: many countries
have provisions allowing for revocation of naturalization
at the discretion of a minister and without appeal to any
independent tribunal
 At the other end of the process, the laws of many countries
provide explicitly that there is no right to challenge a
decision to reject an application for naturalization.
 CITIZENSHIP IN ETHIOPIA
 The development of legal practice concerning
citizenship is relatively a recent phenomenon.
 Accordingly the1930 Nationality proclamation
represented a clear point of reference.
 This law is based on the general principle of jus
sanguinis.
 The law provides that any person born in Ethiopia or
abroad, whose father or mother is Ethiopian, is an
Ethiopian.
 The first qualification provides that every child born in a
lawful mixed marriage follows the nationality of the
father
CONT…
 The second qualification stipulates that the child legitimated
through subsequent marriage follows the nationality of his/her
foreign father only on condition that the nationality law of the
father confers upon him the foreign nationality with all inherent
rights.
 According to the law citizenship can be lost on the condition that:
1. An Ethiopian woman contracts a lawful marriage with a
foreigner and acquires her husband's nationality.
2. A child born in a lawful marriage between an Ethiopian female
and a foreigner follows the nationality of the father, and
3. An Ethiopian subject changes his nationality and acquires
foreign nationality.
CONT…
 Ethiopian woman who married a foreigner, if the law of
the country of which her husband is a national does not
entitle her to the nationality of her husband may retain
Ethiopian nationality.
 A child born outside marriage where his parents
subsequently marry if the national law of the child's
father does not confer upon him his father's nationality
with all its inherent rights may also retain Ethiopian
nationality
CONT…
 Adoption of an Ethiopian child by a foreign national
made in accordance to the national law of the adopting
person does not cause a change of the adopted child's
original nationality.
 A woman who had lost her Ethiopian nationality by
marriage to a foreigner may recover it after the
dissolution of the marriage by reason of divorce,
separation or death of her husband, if she returns to
reside in Ethiopia
CONT…
 The law further explains that a foreigner may acquire
Ethiopian nationality if he:
1. Has attained the age of majority according to the law of
his/her country;
2. Has lived at least for five years in Ethiopia
3. Can earn his/her living (for himself and his family);
4. Can read and write the Amharic language; and
5. Produces evidence to the effect that he/she has not been
previously convicted of a crime.
 THE 1987 PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
ETHIOPIAN CONSTITUTION AND CITIZENSHIP

 As far as citizenship is concerned the constitution of

people’s democratic republic of Ethiopia, which is
introduced by the military regime ( dergue) did not
represent a significant shift in the provisions of legislative
apparatus institutionalized in the citizenship law of 1930.
 Ethiopians were declared to be equal before the law,
regardless of nationality, sex, religion, occupation, and
social or other status.
 They had the right to marry, to work, to rest, to receive
free education, and to have access to health care...etc.
 Religion and the state were proclaimed to be separate
institutions.
CONT…
 Regarding political participation, citizens presumed to
had the right to vote and the right to be elected to
political office but with much constraints to be practical.
 Their duties included national military service,
protection of socialist state property, protection of the
environment, and observance of the constitution and
laws of the country.
 THE 1995 FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
ETHIOPIAN CONSTITUTION AND CITIZENSHIP

 The FDRE Constitution is identified with Ethiopian

Nationality Proclamation No. 378/2003
 It stipulates that “Any person shall be an Ethiopian
national by descent where both or either of his parent is
Ethiopian”
WAYS TO ACQUIRE ETHIOPIAN CITIZENSHIP
ACCORDING TO ETHIOPIAN NATIONALITY
PROCLAMATION NO. 378/2003

1. By Application to Acquire Ethiopian Nationality

 Have attained the age of majority and be legally cable
under the Ethiopian law;
 Have established his domicile in Ethiopia and have lived
in Ethiopia for a total of at least four years preceding the
submission of his application;
 Be able to communicate in any one of the language of
the nations/nationalities of the country;
 Have sufficient and lawful source of income to maintain
himself and his family;
 Be a person of god character;
CONT..
 Have no record of criminal conviction;
 Be able to show that he has been released from his
previous nationality or the possibility of obtaining such a
release upon the acquisition of Ethiopian nationality or
that he is a stateless person; and
 Be able to take the oath of allegiance stated under Article
12 of this proclamation follow “I-------, solemnly affirm
that I will be a loyal national of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia and be faithful to its constitution".
CONT..
1. By Marriage if it is lawful:
I. The marriage has stayed for at least two years: The
applicant for the nationality has lived for at least a year
before application to the Ethiopia nationality
II. He must be of age and legally capable
III. He is released from his nationality or is to be soon
released or is a stateless person (this is to avoid dual
nationality)
CONT..
3. By Adoption: a child adopted by Ethiopian national may
acquire Ethiopian nationality by law if:
I. The child has not attained the age of majority.
II. The child lives in Ethiopian together with his adopting
parent
III. Where one of his adopting parents is a foreigner such
parent had expressed his consent in writing and
IV. Where he is released from his previous nationality, or
where he will be released from his previous nationality
when he obtains the Ethiopian nationality, or where he
is stateless.
4. Outstanding contribution
 LOSS OF ETHIOPIAN CITIZENSHIP ACCORDING TO
ETHIOPIAN NATIONALITY PROCLAMATION NO. 378/2003

1. Renunciation: voluntary repudiation of citizenship.

2. Acquisition: Any Ethiopian who voluntarily acquires
another nationality shall be considered to have
voluntarily renounced his Ethiopian nationality. This is
to avoid double nationality.

N.B : dual citizenship is not allowed under Ethiopian law.

Thank you