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Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law of a state that bestows on that person (called a citizen) the rights and the duties of citizenship. That may include the right to vote, work and live in the country, the right to return to the country, the right to own real estate, legal protections against the country's government, and protection through the military or diplomacy. A citizen may also be subject to certain duties, such as a duty to follow the country's law, to pay taxes, or to serve in the military. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless. Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English[1] – notably in international law – although the term is sometimes understood as denoting a person's membership of a nation (a large ethnic group).[2] In some countries, e.g. the United States, the United Kingdom, nationality and citizenship can have different meanings (for more information, see Nationality#Nationality versus citizenship).


  • Determining factors 1
  • History 2
    • Polis 2.1
    • Roman ideas 2.2
    • Middle Ages 2.3
    • Renaissance 2.4
    • Modern times 2.5
  • Different senses 3
  • International 4
    • Commonwealth 4.1
    • European Union 4.2
  • Subnational 5
  • Education 6
    • United Kingdom 6.1
    • Ireland 6.2
  • See also 7
  • Notes 8
  • References 9
  • Further reading 10
  • External links 11

Determining factors

A person can be a citizen for several reasons. Usually citizenship of the place of birth is automatic; in other cases an application may be required.

  • Parents are citizens (jus sanguinis). If one or both of a person's parents are citizens of a given state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well. [1] Formerly this might only have applied through the paternal line, but sex equality became common since the late twentieth century. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity, and is related to the concept of a nation state common in China. Where jus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. States normally limit the right to citizenship by descent to a certain number of generations born outside the state. This form of citizenship is not common in civil law countries.
  • Born within a country (jus soli). Some people are automatically citizens of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in England where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the monarch (a concept pre-dating citizenship), and is common in common law countries.
In many cases both jus solis and jus sanguinis hold; citizenship either by place or parentage (or of course both).
  • Marriage to a citizen (jure matrimonii). Many countries fast-track naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen. Countries which are destinations for such immigration often have regulations to try to detect sham marriages, where a citizen marries a non-citizen typically for payment, without them having the intention of living as man and wife.[5]
  • Naturalization. States normally grant citizenship to people who have entered the country legally and been granted permit to stay, or been granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. In some countries naturalization is subject to conditions which may include passing a test demonstrating reasonable knowledge of the language or way of life of the host country, good conduct (no serious criminal record), swearing allegiance to their new state or its ruler, and renouncing their prior citizenship. Some states allow dual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to renounce any other citizenship.
  • Excluded categories. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to citizenship on grounds such as skin color, ethnicity, sex, and free status (not being a slave). Most of these exclusions no longer apply in most places. However, the state of Israel restricts granting citizenship to non-believers and Jews only. Followers of any other religion cannot be granted Israeli citizenship. Similar situation exists in some Arab countries, e.g. Qatar is known for granting citizenship to foreign athletes, but they all have to profess their Islamic faith in order to receive citizenship.



Many thinkers point to the concept of citizenship beginning in the early city-states of ancient Greece, although others see it as primarily a modern phenomenon dating back only a few hundred years and, for mankind, that the concept of citizenship arose with the first laws. Polis meant both the political assembly of the city-state as well as the entire society.[6] Citizenship has generally been identified as a western phenomenon.[7] There is a general view that citizenship in ancient times was a simpler relation than modern forms of citizenship, although this view has come under scrutiny.[8] The relation of citizenship has not been a fixed or static relation, but constantly changed within each society, and that according to one view, citizenship might "really have worked" only at select periods during certain times, such as when the Athenian politician Solon made reforms in the early Athenian state.[9]

Historian Geoffrey Hosking in his 2005 Modern Scholar lecture course suggested that citizenship in ancient Greece arose from an appreciation for the importance of freedom.[10] Hosking explained:

—Geoffrey Hosking, 2005[10]

Slavery permitted slaveowners to have substantial free time, and enabled participation in public life.[10] Polis citizenship was marked by exclusivity. Inequality of status was widespread; citizens had a higher status than non-citizens, such as women, slaves or Roman Empire, citizenship expanded from small scale communities to the entire empire. Romans realized that granting citizenship to people from all over the empire legitimized Roman rule over conquered areas. Roman citizenship was no longer a status of political agency; it had been reduced to a judicial safeguard and the expression of rule and law.[13] Rome carried forth Greek ideas of citizenship such as the principles of equality under the law, civic participation in government, and notions that "no one citizen should have too much power for too long",[14] but Rome offered relatively generous terms to its captives, including chances for lesser forms of citizenship.[14] If Greek citizenship was an "emancipation from the world of things",[15] the Roman sense increasingly reflected the fact that citizens could act upon material things as well as other citizens, in the sense of buying or selling property, possessions, titles, goods. One historian explained:

J. G. A. Pocock, 1988[16]

Roman citizenship reflected a struggle between the upper-class patrician interests against the lower-order working groups known as the plebeian class.[14] A citizen came to be understood as a person "free to act by law, free to ask and expect the law's protection, a citizen of such and such a legal community, of such and such a legal standing in that community".[17] Citizenship meant having rights to have possessions, immunities, expectations, which were "available in many kinds and degrees, available or unavailable to many kinds of person for many kinds of reason".[17] And the law, itself, was a kind of bond uniting people.[18] Roman citizenship was more impersonal, universal, multiform, having different degrees and applications.[18]

Middle Ages

During European Middle Ages, citizenship was usually associated with cities and towns, see burgher, Grand Burgher (German Großbürger) and Bourgeoisie. Nobility used to have privileges above commoners (see aristocracy), but the French Revolution and other revolutions revoked these privileges and made citizens.


During the Renaissance, people transitioned from being subjects of a king or queen to being citizens of a city and later to a nation.[19]:p.161 Each city had its own law, courts, and independent administration.[20] And being a citizen often meant being subject to the city's law in addition to having power in some instances to help choose officials.[20] City dwellers who had fought alongside nobles in battles to defend their cities were no longer content with having a subordinate social status, but demanded a greater role in the form of citizenship.[21] Membership in guilds was an indirect form of citizenship in that it helped their members succeed financially.[22] The rise of citizenship was linked to the rise of republicanism, according to one account, since independent citizens meant that kings had less power.[23] Citizenship became an idealized, almost abstract, concept,[9] and did not signify a submissive relation with a lord or count, but rather indicated the bond between a person and the state in the rather abstract sense of having rights and duties.[9]

Modern times

The modern idea of citizenship still respects the idea of political participation, but it is usually done through "elaborate systems of political representation at a distance" such as representative democracy.[8] Modern citizenship is much more passive; action is delegated to others; citizenship is often a constraint on acting, not an impetus to act.[8] Nevertheless, citizens are usually aware of their obligations to authorities, and are aware that these bonds often limit what they can do.[8]

Different senses

Many theorists suggest that there are two opposing conceptions of citizenship: an economic one, and a political one. For further information, see History of citizenship.


Modern citizenship has often been looked at as two competing underlying ideas:[26]

  • The liberal-individualist or sometimes liberal conception of citizenship suggests that citizens should have entitlements necessary for human dignity.[27] It assumes people act for the purpose of enlightened self-interest. According to this viewpoint, citizens are sovereign, morally autonomous beings with duties to pay taxes, obey the law, engage in business transactions, and defend the nation if it comes under attack,[27] but are essentially passive politically,[26] and their primary focus is on economic betterment. This idea began to appear around the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and became stronger over time, according to one view.[9] According to this formulation, the state exists for the benefit of citizens and has an obligation to respect and protect the rights of citizens, including civil rights and political rights.[9] It was later that so-called social rights became part of the obligation for the state.[9]
  • The civic-republican or sometimes classical or civic humanist conception of citizenship emphasizes man's political nature, and sees citizenship as an active process, not a passive state or legal marker.[26] It is relatively more concerned that government will interfere with popular places to practice citizenship in the public sphere. Citizenship means being active in government affairs.[27] According to one view, most people today live as citizens according to the liberal-individualist conception but wished they lived more according to the civic-republican ideal.[26] An ideal citizen is one who exhibits "good civic behavior".[9] Free citizens and a republic government are "mutually interrelated."[9] Citizenship suggested a commitment to "duty and civic virtue".[9]

Scholars suggest that the concept of citizenship contains many unresolved issues, sometimes called tensions, existing within the relation, that continue to reflect uncertainty about what citizenship is supposed to mean.[9] Some unresolved issues regarding citizenship include questions about what is the proper balance between duties and rights.[9] Some see these two aspects of citizenship as incompatible, such that social rights have gone too far with not enough emphasis on duties citizens owe to the state.[9] Another is a question about what is the proper balance between political citizenship versus social citizenship.[9] Some thinkers see benefits with people being absent from public affairs, since too much participation such as revolution can be destructive, yet too little participation such as total apathy can be problematic as well.[9] Citizenship can be seen as a special elite status, and it can also be seen as a democratizing force and something that everybody has; the concept can include both senses.[9] According to sociologist Arthur Stinchcombe, citizenship is based on the extent that a person can control one's own destiny within the group in the sense of being able to influence the government of the group.[19]:p.150 One last distinction within citizenship is the so-called consent descent distinction, and this issue addresses whether citizenship is a fundamental matter determined by a person choosing to belong to a particular nation––by his or her consent––or is citizenship a matter of where a person was born––that is, by his or her descent.[11]



  • BBC PSHE & Citizenship
  • The Life in the UK Citizenship Test Report by Thom Brooks
  • Citizenship entry by Dominique Leydet in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • "Citizenship Laws of the World" (pdf). United States Office of Personnel Management Investigations Service. March 2001. Archived from the original on 2006-04-04. Retrieved 2007-03-07. 

External links

  • Beaven, Brad, and John Griffiths. "Creating the Exemplary Citizen: The Changing Notion of Citizenship in Britain 1870–1939," Contemporary British History (2008) 22#2 pp 203–225 doi:10.1080/13619460701189559
  • Heater, Derek (2004). A Brief History of Citizenship. NYU Press.  
  • Marshall, T.H. (1950). Citizenship and Social Class and Other Essays. Cambridge University Press. 
  • Shue, Henry (1950). Basic Rights. 
  • Smith, Rogers (2003). Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political Membership. Cambridge University Press.  
  • Somers, Margaret (2008). Genealogies of Citizenship: Markets, Statelessness, and the Right to Have Rights. Cambridge University Press.  
  • Soysal, Yasemin (1994). Limits of Citizenship. Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe. University of Chicago Press. 
  • Turner, Bryan S. (1994). Citizenship and Social Theory. Sage.  

Further reading

  • Weber, Max (1998). Citizenship in Ancient and Medieval Cities. Chapter 3. Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota. pp. 43–49.  
  • Pocock, J. G. A. (1998). Shafir, Gershon, ed. The Citizenship Debates. Chapter 2 -- The Ideal of Citizenship since Classical Times (originally published in Queen's Quarterly 99, no. 1). Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota. p. 31.  
  1. ^ Votruba, Martin. "Nationality, ethnicity in Slovakia.". Slovak Studies Program. University of Pittsburgh. 
  2. ^ Weis, Paul (1979). Nationality and Statelessness in International Law. Sijthoff & Noordhoff. p. 3.  
  3. ^ Article IV of the Philippine Constitution.
  4. ^ 8 USC Part I - Nationality at Birth and Collective Naturalization8 USC Part I - Nationality at Birth and Collective Naturalization
  5. ^ UK government Web site: Bishops act to tackle sham marriages - New UK Border Agency approved guidance for clergy should help prevent weddings for visas, 11 April 2011
  6. ^ Pocock 1998, p. 32.
  7. ^ Zarrow 1997, p. 4.
  8. ^ a b c d e Isin (co-editor), Engin F.; Bryan S. Turner (co-editor) (2002). Handbook of Citizenship Studies. Chapter 5 -- David Burchell -- Ancient Citizenship and its Inheritors; Chapter 6 -- Rogers M. Smith -- Modern Citizenship. London: Sage. pp. 89–104, 105.  
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Heater, Derek (2004). A Brief History of Citizenship. New York City: New York University Press. p. 157.  
  10. ^ a b c Hosking, Geoffrey (2005). Epochs of European Civilization: Antiquity to Renaissance. Lecture 3: Ancient Greece. United Kingdom: The Modern Scholar via  
  12. ^ Pocock 1998, p. 33.
  13. ^ See Civis romanus sum.
  15. ^ Pocock 1998, p. 35.
  16. ^ Pocock 1998, p. 36.
  17. ^ a b Pocock 1998, p. 37.
  18. ^ a b Pocock 1998, p. 38.
  19. ^ a b c Taylor, David; Bryan Turner and Peter Hamilton (editors) (1994). Citizenship: Critical Concepts. United States and Canada: Routledge. pp. 476 pages total;.  
  20. ^ a b Weber 1998, p. 44.
  21. ^ Weber 1998, p. 46.
  22. ^ Weber 1998, pp. 46-47.
  23. ^ Zarrow 1997, p. 3.
  26. ^ a b c d Beiner (editor), Ronald (1995). Theorizing Citizenship. J. G. A. Pocock, Michael Ignatieff. USA: State University of New York, Albany. pp. 29, 54.  
  28. ^ Daniele Archibugi, "The Global Commonwealth of Citizens. Toward Cosmopolitan Democracy", Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2008
  29. ^ The Commonwealth Countries and Ireland (Immunities and Privileges) (Amendment) Order 2005
  30. ^ Murray v Parkes [1942] All ER 123.
  31. ^ Note: the consolidated version.
  32. ^ a b Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union
  33. ^ Note: Articles 39, 43, 49 EC.
  34. ^ Violaine Hacker, « Citoyenneté culturelle et politique européenne des médias : entre compétitivité et promotion des valeurs », NATIONS, CULTURES ET ENTREPRISES EN EUROPE, sous la direction de Gilles Rouet, Collection Local et Global, L’Harmattan, Paris, pp. 163-184
  35. ^ "National curriculum". British Government, Department for Children, Schools and Families. Retrieved 2009-02-02. 
  36. ^ "NAFWC 13/2003 Personal and Social Education (PSE) and Work-Related Education (WRE) in the Basic Curriculum. Education (WRE) in the Basic Curriculum.". Welsh Assembly Government. 15 June 2003. Retrieved 2007-06-09. 
  37. ^ "Personal and Social Education Framework: Key Stages 1 to 4 in Wales". Welsh Assembly Government. Retrieved 2007-06-09. 
  38. ^ "Modern Studies Association". Retrieved 2007-08-09. 
  39. ^


  1. ^ Examples: Philippines,[3] United States[4]


See also

It is taught in Ireland as an exam subject for the Junior Certificate. It is known as Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE). A new Leaving Certificate exam subject with the working title 'Politics & Society' is being developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and is expected to be introduced to the curriculum sometime after 2012.[39]


  • Citizenship is a compulsory subject of the National Curriculum in state schools in England for all pupils aged 11–16. Some schools offer a qualification in this subject at GCSE and A level. All state schools have a statutory requirement to teach the subject, assess pupil attainment and report student's progress in citizenship to parents.[35]
  • In Wales the model used is Personal and Social Education.[36][37]
  • Citizenship is not taught as a discrete subject in Scottish schools, but is a cross-curricular strand of the Curriculum for Excellence. However they do teach a subject called "Modern Studies" which covers the social, political and economic study of local, national and international issues.[38]

Citizenship is offered as a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) course in many schools in the United Kingdom. As well as teaching knowledge about democracy, parliament, government, the justice system, human rights and the UK's relations with the wider world, students participate in active citizenship, often involving a social action or social enterprise in their local community.

United Kingdom



Diagram of relationship between; Citizens, Politicians + Laws

The United States has a federal system in which a person is a citizen of their specific state of residence, such as New Jersey or California, as well as a citizen of the United States. State constitutions may grant certain rights above and beyond what are granted under the United States Constitution and may impose their own obligations including the sovereign right of taxation and military service; each state maintains at least one military force subject to national militia transfer service, the state's national guard, and some states maintain a second military force not subject to nationalization.



Union citizens have also extensive rights to move in order to exercise economic activity in any of the Member States[33] which predate the introduction of Union citizenship.[34]

An agreement known as the amended EC Treaty[32] established certain minimal rights for European Union citizens. Article 12 of the amended EC Treaty guaranteed a general right of non-discrimination within the scope of the Treaty. Article 18 provided a limited right to free movement and residence in Member States other than that of which the European Union citizen is a national. Articles 18-21 and 225 provide certain political rights.

stated that: [31]Treaty on European Union. Article 17 (1) of the citizenship of the European Union introduced the concept of Maastricht Treaty The

European Union

Canada departed from the principle of nationality being defined in terms of allegiance in 1921. In 1935 the Irish Free State was the first to introduce its own citizenship. However, Irish citizens were still treated as subjects of the Crown, and they are still not regarded as foreign, even though Ireland is not a member of the Commonwealth.[30] The Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947 provided for a distinct Canadian Citizenship, automatically conferred upon most individuals born in Canada, with some exceptions, and defined the conditions under which one could become a naturalized citizen. The concept of Commonwealth citizenship was introduced in 1948 in the British Nationality Act 1948. Other dominions adopted this principle such as New Zealand, by way of the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act of 1948.

Although Ireland was excluded from the Commonwealth in 1949 because it declared itself a republic, Ireland is generally treated as if it were still a member. Legislation often specifically provides for equal treatment between Commonwealth countries and Ireland and refers to "Commonwealth countries and Ireland".[29] Ireland's citizens are not classified as foreign nationals in the United Kingdom.

  • In some instances the right to work in any position (including the civil service) is granted, except for certain specific positions, such as in the defense departments, Governor-General or President or Prime Minister.



where it is applied to the totality of the citizens of their constituent countries combined. Citizenship at this level is a secondary concept, with rights deriving from national citizenship. [28]

