European Citizenship National Legacies And Transnational Projects

Is there a common ground on which a European citizenship can be constructed? This volume looks at four foundations of citizenship in Europe: the legacy of national identities, current designs and projects for social and political citizenship in Europe, a transitional public space as the basis of an active European Citizenship in Europe, and a transitional collective identity as a symbolic boundary marker for European citizenship. Such options raise the theoretical question of how to conceive citizenship in a transnationalizing world. Since the idea of European citizenship cannot escape the problem of defining who is a European citizen and who is not, the theoretical problem is tackled by defining the collective bonds of European citizens beyond primordial or traditional bonds that have dominated European history.

This book argues that European citizenship is transnational, a status that has emerged incrementally during the European integration process. Transnational Citizenship in the European Union follows an institutionalist approach and traces the development of citizenship discourse from the founding treaties of the EU to the most recent effort of constitution-making and the Lisbon Treaty. This helps demonstrate that such discourse has followed a path based on the foundational principles of free movement and non-discrimination rather than revolutionary ideas of a postnational citizenship beyond the nation-state. This in-depth analysis of citizenship in the EU takes into account the institutional configuration of membership, rights, identity, and participation. It also brings in the domestic level of the debate through the examination of national positions on reform proposals and the interplay between EU and member states conceptions of citizenship. Lastly, by investigating citizenship practices, the book helps foster understanding of how the EU works as a political system, and the relationship between European institutions and the recipients of their integrative politics , i.e., the citizens.

25 years after the introduction of EU citizenship this book reconsiders its contradictions and constraints as well as promises and prospects. Analyzing a disputed concept and evaluating its implementation and social effects Reconsidering EU Citizenship contributes to the lively debate on European and transnational citizenship. It offers new insights for the ongoing theoretical debates on the future of EU citizenship – a future that will be determined by the transformative path the EU is going to take vis à vis the centrifugal forces of the current economic and political crisis.

The modern liberal idea of citizenship is constructed by a fixed notion of identity which gains meaning through a number of binary oppositions, such as we/ they, citizen/ foreigner, self/ other and so forth. Defined by these binaries, where the first term is perceived as dominant because it is considered to be derived from reason, the fixed notion of identity inevitably produces exclusion and marginalization. Importantly, the postmodern concept of citizenship stems from a critique of these essentialist and universalist conceptions of identity. Exploring European identity and European citizenship from a philosophical perspective, this book reveals the discursive construction of these two concepts whilst at the same time attempting to define them as either modernist or postmodernist categories. Dr. Ivic takes a hermeneutic approach in her interpretation of European citizenship and identity through a close reading of European treaties and other official documents. Through her detailed analysis, Dr. Ivic is able to present the reader with well-informed and concrete examples of modern and postmodern concepts of identity within Europe. Moreover, this book explores the impact that contemporary issues such as Brexit, the migration crisis in Europe, and the proliferation of nationalist discourses, have on European citizenship and identity. Where existing research literature has failed, this book offers a dynamic and textual analysis of citizenship that takes into account the complex philosophical, legal, political and theoretical background of Europe. Dealing with issues that have not yet been sufficiently explored, ‘EU Citizenship’ is an important contribution to the field of philosophical analysis. Aimed at university students, this book will also provide a baseline and set of reference points for researchers and practitioners of European studies that are working with projects that look at European citizenship.

This book provides a critique of the way in which European citizenship is imagined and practiced. Setting their analysis in its full historical context, the authors challenge preconceived ideas about European citizenship on the basis of a detailed reconstruction of political, social and economic practice. In particular, they show the extent to which the elimination of formal internal borders within Europe has come hand in glove with the emergence of new socio-economic boundaries and the hardening of external borders. The book concludes with a number of concrete proposals to forge a genuinely post-national form of membership.

Citizenship between Past and Future brings together some of the most prominent scholars in the field of citizenship studies to assess, critically and contextually, the ongoing significance of citizenship as an object of study. The authors reflect on the major issues and debates that have emerged in the field of citizenship studies over the last decade as well as to point out some of the new challenges ahead. The book recasts traditional thinking about citizenship beyond issues of legal status and investigates it rather as a strategic concept that is central in the analysis of identity, participation, human rights, and emerging forms of political life. Seeking to broaden the debate on the meaning, significance, and practices of citizenship, the authors engage with an impressive and challenging array of theoretical and substantive issues. Citizenship is investigated in terms of debates over inclusion and exclusion, statism and cosmopolitanism, status and rights, gender and race, and multiculturalism and global inequality. The book revitalizes the debate over a key political concept and offers new ways of thinking about citizenship that take into account contemporary challenges.

This edited book is the first of its kind to systematically address the intersection of e-democracy and European politics. It contributes to an improved understanding of the role that new media technologies play in European politics and the potential impact that Internet-based political participation processes may have on modern-day representative democracy in Europe. A unique, holistic approach is taken to examine e-democracy’s current state and prospects in Europe from three, partially overlapping and interlocking perspectives: e-public, e-participation and e-voting. The authors provide both theory-inspired reflections on e-democracy’s contribution to the formation of the European public sphere, as well as rich empirical analyses of contemporary e-participation phenomena such as the European Citizens’ Initiative or e-voting practices in Estonia. Based on the presented findings, the concluding chapter combines a prospective outlook with recommendations for future paths towards meaningful integration of e-democracy in European politics and governance.

This theoretically ambitious work combines analytical, institutional and critical approaches in order to provide an in-depth, panoramic and contextual account of European Union citizenship law and policy.

Making European Citizens examines the forms of transnational citizenship developing in Europe. Active citizenship involves more than simply voting. Achieving mobilization at a transnational level may involve new democratic techniques and skills. The volume explores how far European citizens have acquired the requisite methods and qualities.