Citizenship In Modern Britain

Citizenship in Modern Britain is a readable text that examines citizenship from a social science perspective. The subject matter has been divided into three sections,corresponding to each of the AQA AS Level modules. The text also provides all the necessary academic material required for examinable citizenship courses, supported and developed by a series of research, practical and discursive activities. These activities have been designed not only extend to students’ knowledge of the subject, but also to encourage thought, debate and evaluation. This book is essential for students taking AS level Citizenship. It also provides excellent support for students who are studying subjects that have close links to citizenship issues such as sociology, law, Government and politics and general studies.

Unlike many nations Britain had not developed a national citizenship by the 20th century. Instead belonging in Britain was merely a function of allegiance to the Crown. This lack of definition was seen as beneficial. This title explores the implications of such vagueness as a new millennium begins.

This textbook provides an introduction to the theory and practice of citizenship in modern Britain.

Introducing current theory and practice, Keith Faulks examines classical, social, and neo-liberal theories of citizenship, and outlines their flaws at both conceptual and practical levels. Putting forward a more sophisticated theory for understanding how citizenship has developed in Britain, he concludes that a truly inclusive and meaningful concept of citizenship must look beyond the limits of liberal theory and the liberal state.

This text examines citizenship from a social science perspective. The subject matter has been divided into three sections, corresponding to each of the AQA AS Level modules. The text also provides all the necessary academic material required for examinable citizenship courses.

Contemporary citizenship is haunted by the ghost of imperialism. Yet conceptions of European citizenship fail to explain issues that are inclusive of the impact of empire today, and are integral to the reality of citizenship; from the notion of ‘minorities’ to the assertion of citizenship rights by migrants and the withdrawal of fundamental rights from particular groups. The Uses of Imperial Citizenship examines the ways in which ideas of citizenship and subjecthood were applied in societies under imperial rule in order to expand our understanding of these concepts. Taking examples from the experience of the British and French empires, the book examines the ways in which claims to the rights and obligations of imperial subjects by otherwise marginalised people – from women activists to ‘native’ newspaper editors – shaped the history of British and French concepts of citizenship. Through extensive analysis of colonial and diplomatic archives, parliamentary debates and commissions, journalism and contemporary works on colonial administration, the book explores how governments and people in colonial societies saw themselves within, on the frontiers of, and outside of imperial notions of citizenship and subjecthood.

Publisher Description

An historical introduction to the varieties of citizenship in Britain, starting in the Middle Ages and bringing the story right up to the present day. Both the status and understanding of citizenship in practice and the theoretical and advisory writings on the subject are introduced, and their inter-relationships are explored. Organised chronologically, each chapter is divided into sections in order to present the reader with different themes in a manageable form. The focus throughout is on accessibility, with no previous knowledge of the subject being assumed.

Offers a comparative study of the origins, performance, and reform of contemporary mechanisms of direct democracy.