Bounded Citizenship

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The concept of citizenship and its boundaries are contested, yet its definition in the plainest form is to be a member of a political community, such as a nation-state and possess legal rights and political duties. As can be seen from its many ideals – namely republican, liberal, bound, cosmopolitan, pluralist or solidarist – citizenship has multiple sources of meaning, be they cultural, religious, ethnic or gender related. These conceptions each have their respective merits and downfalls, which shall be assessed and measured in this essay by the extent to which they permit the best use and protection of the citizen’s rights and duties. Although the arguments of Linklater (1998) and Miller (2000) shall form either side of the examination and …show more content…
This level of reciprocity links to the last of the three distinct claims made about the merits of bounded citizenship, which shall subsequently be discussed, in that by partaking in the responsibilities of voting properly and other duties, citizens enjoy the knowledge that by compromising on certain issues they shall be rewarded in the long-run, thus expressing their collective self- …show more content…
In this sense precision can take on a dual meaning. On one hand, it could be that the conception provides more representative rights because if they are reserved solely to a respective state then there can be a consideration of the culture of the population. On the other hand, it could be that the wording and legality of the rights are contractual to that state; therefore the rights are clearly outlined. When looking at the first point it is interesting to note the normative emphasis Miller places on the notion of nationality and its intrinsic link to the boundaries created by nation-states. The republican stance that claims that these boundaries have shaped the identity of the citizens and the responsibilities that they are willing to uphold has some truth in it (Wendt, 1994) yet to say that bounded citizenship always takes into account the cultural and ethnic diversifications when creating democratic state rights and global citizenship doesn’t is a falsified claim. Precision achieved through the consideration of cultural differences within a state is seemingly not always a merit found as a result of bounded citizenship, in fact it appears that at times it can be at odds with it. This is a point made by Bell and De-Shalit (2003), who argues that in an effort to achieve the republican aim of a

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