Citizenship as a Political Concept

Abstract

Citizenship is a key concept for democracy in that it defines the demos, or the democratic subject, or the sovereign, in a legal and political sense in every democratic system. But the concept of citizenship does not only include the definition of who belongs to the demos, it also aims at what the demos does. It always implies a certain political activity of the citizens – be it that the citizens vote, discuss, demonstrate or can become members of political parties. Finally, the concept of citizenship in most cases hints at the conditions linked to the adherence to the demos, namely citizenship rights and duties. These also set the formal conditions for the citizens’ political activity, and hence also for debate and discourse. Today this classical conception is challenged by an Inter-, Supra- and Transnationalisation of Citizenship in the EU. These processes did not only bring about the introduction of Union citizenship in 1993, but also several changes for national citizenship. This panel aims at discussing citizenship from the conceptual point of view by welcoming contributions on both the historical aspects of citizenship and the contemporary discussions.

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