Citizenship, denoting full and active membership of the national and political community, has been recognized as a critical concept since ancient times. However, three key and related changes have occurred to each of the basic components of this concept that have altered dramatically to whom and to what it now refers, and the contexts in which it seems proper to use it. First, the scope of membership or who can be a citizen has broadened considerably. Second, the rights and duties of citizenship have likewise been ...
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Citizenship, denoting full and active membership of the national and political community, has been recognized as a critical concept since ancient times. However, three key and related changes have occurred to each of the basic components of this concept that have altered dramatically to whom and to what it now refers, and the contexts in which it seems proper to use it. First, the scope of membership or who can be a citizen has broadened considerably. Second, the rights and duties of citizenship have likewise been transformed. Finally, the contours of the political community, or the loci where it is appropriate and necessary to adopt civic behaviour, has similarly altered. Changes in one dimension have tended to lead to concomitant changes to the others. For example, the inclusion of women as full members of the political community has initiated a long process of reform to the entitlements and obligations of citizenship, and has challenged not only the traditional contours of the public and private, but also the venues for citizenly activity and the forms it might take. This new collection from Routledge s Critical Concepts in Political Science series brings together in four volumes both canonical and cutting-edge research to enable users to make sense of the theory and practice of citizenship. Volume I explores the classic theories of citizenship: starting with historical accounts of ancient and early modern citizenship, and then charting the shift from republican to liberal citizenship in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The volume s focus is then on T. H. Marshall s view of citizenship within the liberal democratic, national welfare states that emerged after the Second World War, and the critiques that came from new left and new right alike from the 1970s onwards. Volume II asks Who is a Citizen? . The major works gathered in this volume take particular account of the impact of feminist activism and scholarship; the emergence and critique of multiculturalism in addressing ethnic, racial and religious diversity; and the rights asserted by immigrants and asylum seekers. Volume III, meanwhile, gathers the best scholarship on citizenship practice, and explores how the rights and duties of citizenship have moved from the state sphere strictly defined, to encompass a much broader reading of politics that also includes much of civil society. The final volume of the collection addresses the ways in which issues about and around citizenship have simultaneously extended beyond the state into transnational and supranational contexts (such as the European Union), and have also, in some instances, become devolved from the state to the regional and local levels. With a full index, and a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, "Citizenship" is an essential work of reference. The collection will be particularly useful as a database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar and sometimes overlooked texts. For researchers, students, and policy-makers, it is as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.
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4 volumes, 1724 pp., Hardcovers, new. -If you are reading this, this item is actually (physically) in our stock and ready for shipment once ordered. We are not bookjackers. Buyer is responsible for any additional duties, taxes, or fees required by recipient's country. Photos available upon request.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
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New. 2008. 1st Edition. Paperback. Interest in citizenship has never been higher. But what does it mean to be a citizen in a modern, complex community? Richard Bellamy approaches the subject of citizenship from a political perspective and, in clear and accessible language, addresses the complexities behind this highly topical issue. Series: Very Short Introductions. Num Pages: 152 pages, 15 line drawings. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 175 x 114 x 8. Weight in Grams: 134......We ship daily from our Bookshop.
Written for the "A Very Short Introduction" series of Oxford University Press, Richard Bellamy's "Citizenship" (2008) offers a challenging introduction to the nature of citizenship and to why it is important. Bellamy, Professor of Political Science and Director of the School of Public Policy at University College, London, has written widely on citizenship, political philosophy, and government.
Although a "very short introduction", Bellamy's book is difficult and learned. It also presents Bellamy's own informed understanding of citizenship rather than rehashing the literature for beginners. Due to its brevity, the book does not develop its arguments as fully or clearly as it might. Bellamy has the lecturer's habit of outlining and presenting his points (i.e. this is so for three reasons, 1, 2.3) and not elaborating. The book also includes a great deal of repetition and cross-referencing from chapter to chapter which tends to make it ponderous. Thus, Bellamy's study is not an easy "very short introduction" but rather requires close reading and attention. With its difficulties, the book offers an insightful understanding of citizenship.
Bellamy argues that citizenship is closely connected to participation in government and to democracy. The crux of modern citizenship, for Bellamy, is the right to vote. He points to a growing apathy and skepticism about democracy and voting in developed countries such as the United States and Great Britain and seeks to combat this regrettable tendency by explaining the value of citizenship.
In his opening chapter. Bellamy offers an exposition of the nature of citizenship which he expands upon in the remainder of the work. Bellamy argues that citizenship is primarily a political (rather than legal) concept and that it has three components: membership, rights, and participation. He offers the following somewhat cumbersome definition.
"Citizenship is a condition of civic equality. It consists of membership of a political community where all citizens can determine the terms of social cooperation on an equal basis. This status not only secures equal rights to the enjoyment of the collective goods provided by the political association but also involves equal duties to promote and sustain them -- including the good of democratic citizenship itself."
The crux of citizenship is participation in the political process with the goal of defining the nature of rights and providing for their implementation. Rights, in this analysis, are not abstractions but instead are correlative with the duties of individuals to participate in the process. The definition of citizenship needs a definition of who are entitled to be citizens and of what entities.
Bellamy offers a historical overview of various concepts of citizenship beginning with the Greeks and Romans. He discusses the ways in which the concept changed slowly with the development of the modern state. The class of citizens gradually expanded from free men, in the Greek polis, to include those without property, women, and people of minority nationality in a community. He offers a telling observation about this expansion: "there has been a general reversal of assumptions; instead of private autonomy being the basis of public autonomy in the political realm, political participation and the regulation of the private sphere have become the guarantees of personal freedom". He argues that feminism, for example, can better be viewed as part of a long-term trend towards inclusion in the concept of citizenship as opposed to a separate, distinctive ideological position.
Bellamy discusses the tension that arises between a state-based concept of citizenship on the one hand and the rise of globalization and multi-culturalism on the other hand. He argues for the importance of state citizenship largely on grounds that individual participation and feeling of responsibility becomes remote in a larger arena. He also argues that a sense of nationalism and cohesiveness is important to guard against despotism.
In his concluding chapter, Bellamy discusses how democracy, a two-party system, and a voting electorate, whose members must choose between parties offering positions on a host of issues (rather than deciding each issue by itself in a referendum, for example) increases the value and the worth of participatory democracy. Bellamy concludes: "Citizenship informs and gives effect to central features of our social morality. It underlies our whole sense of self-worth, affecting in the process the way we treat others and are treated by them. It stands behind the commitment to rights and the appreciation of cultural diversity that are among the central moral achievements of the late 20th and early 21st centuries."
Bellamy has written a rewarding, brief book for readers with a strong interest in citizenship and government. There is no reason why a "very short introduction" is necessarily easy. A readers guide to the book may be found online which poses provocative questions that it is the goal of the book to help the reader think about and answer.
