Theorizing Citizenship and Identity

This chapter, in providing a theoretical overview on contemporary citizenship, will unpack the multifaceted dimensions and multi-layered structure of citizenship. It will analyse both the interrelationship between citizenship, cultural diversity and liberal values and the emergence of a multi-level mode of governance, to assess the changing nature of citizenship within the EU due to cross-border cooperation activities. The role of civil society in contributing to move to a post-national understanding of citizenship will also be explored. It will be argued that nation-state centred theories do not really help either to understand or to explain complex political, social and cultural realities which exist in cross-border regions and territories marked by the presence of minority (ethnic) groups. It will be shown that ‘nation-state’ citizenship rights now appear to be competing with universal human rights that are guaranteed to all human beings equally. The achievement of ‘universal human rights’ is the result of individuals’ actions and mobilization not as ‘national citizens’ but as ‘abstract individuals’, on the basis of their personhood. Accordingly, those who did not have a voice, such as ‘non-citizens’, marginalized people or members of minority groups are claiming their right to participate in the public sphere as their ‘natural’ right.