Citizenship: Developments, Boundaries and Challenges

Section Convenor: Professor Trond Solhaug, Programme for Teacher Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway. Personal profile: Professor in teaching social studies and pedagogy; PhD on Education for democratic citizenship; MA in Political Science; Research interests: political participation, citizenship, political identity, diversity and integration; General Secretary IPSA RC 21 Political Socialization and Education 2006–2012. Convenor of Standing Group Citizenship at ECPR. For further details visit http://www.ntnu.no/ansatte/tronso and http://ecprcitizenship.wordpress.com/. Co-convenor: Bernard Fournier, Visiting Researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Visiting Professor at Haute École de la Province de Liège For further details visit: http://bernardfournier.wordpress.com/ and http://ecprcitizenship.wordpress.com/. Abstract Financial, social and political turmoil has made citizenship one of the most dynamic areas of political contestation in the world. These and other developments have in many ways influenced how citizenship is lived and practiced as well as challenged and developed. Citizenship as a status and practice provides a channel for citizens to contest established political settlements and their boundaries. Simultaneously, citizenship is a channel for authorities to regulate citizens’ scope of social and political action and their attempts to contest these boundaries. Due to this dual function citizenship manifests in the many struggles and political developments occurring across societies and in quests for civil, social, cultural, political and basic human rights. These processes are heightened when we observe the growing number of individuals who are exposed to values that transcend national boundaries, a European identity, migrant diasporas and dual citizenship. In understanding the boundaries of modern citizenship we need to recognize how traditional forms of citizenship (national belonging, civic values, participation in liberal democratic institutions) have been exposed as limited and Western centric, but also ask whether novel forms of engagement are political and sufficiently democratic. To cover the many aspects of citizenship developments, this section calls for interdisciplinary research. It considers how citizenship is practiced, challenged and resisted in multiple sites and localities, and taught in educational institutions. It explores how formal citizenship is not only claimed and acquired by those who desire it, but how it has been denied and rejected by authorities. We welcome a wide range of panels and paper proposals, which explore recent developments, which can account for these changes. We are particularly interested in exploring the impact of global processes, including migration, regional integration and technological advancement on contemporary citizenship and citizenship education practices. Equally important is to shed light on the actions and perceptions of citizens and non-citizens in relation to the various dimensions of citizenship, such as rights, religion, identity and participation. Panel 1: Citizenship and the Right to Travel: How the Technologies that launched Globalization have Redefined (and Strengthened) the State's Power to Restrict Freedom of Movement Chair: Jeffrey Kahn, Southern Methodist University Abstract: The right to enter, leave, and travel within one's country is as essential to full citizenship in a modern, democratic republic as rights to vote or work. Ironically, the computer revolution lauded for its globalizing effects enables government restrictions on movement - through monitoring, watchlisting, and interdiction - to unprecedented degrees. This interdisciplinary panel examines how technology alters this classic citizen-state relationship. Panel 2: Citizenship, Identities and Politics Chair: Niels Kristensen, Aalborg Universitet Abstract: We live in an age where the range of possible identities and the number of identities offered to individual’s increases, which is also the case for political identities. Understanding citizens’ political identity is crucial to our knowledge and understanding of citizenship, political behavior and as a source of conflict and use in political situations. The term, political identity, is often associated with citizens’ identities that come into play in situations which are perceived of some political salience by citizens or politicians in power. In the academic literature, political identities are referred to as very different from one another. Partisan identities have been found to be important, albeit weakening due to the decline of class identities and spread of ‘catch-all parties’. Other identities are usually defined by issues related to ethnicity, social class or geographical belonging. Furthermore local, regional, national and, particularly, global identities have become important in shaping citizens’ political identities. These identities have underscored that political identities are not stable, but fluid and continuously developing. Globalization, growing migration and the increasing number of regional conflicts cause many to live with dual identities. Dual identities are often a personal challenge and subject to inclusion as well as marginalization and exclusion in societies. Late modernity is also characterized by a relativized sense of belonging. At the same time, we have seen an increase in religious identification, specifically of identity claims based on religious membership. This should suffice to conclude that the many forms of political identities of political identities is important to citizenship and some of these is explored in this panel. Panel 3: Citizenship, Policy, Participation and Inclusion Chair: Per Mouritsen, Aarhus Universitet Abstract: tbc Panel 4: Conceptions and Contestations of Citizenship: (re-)Defining the Extent and Boundaries of National Membership and Citizenship Rights Chair: Jelena Dzankic, European University Institute Abstract: Representing the essence of the link between the citizens and the state, citizenship is key for understanding how a state functions and who is included in and excluded from participating in the polity. During and after times of national conflict, notions of citizenship become contested and renegotiated. Looking at the conceptions and contestations of national membership in post-conflict countries, this panel explores how different political actors confer and claim citizenship rights, where they draw boundaries of inclusion, and what implications these have on key political processes, such as voting, mobilization and welfare provision.To be added Panel 5: Politics of Dual Citizenship Chair: Heino Nyyssönen, University of Tampere Abstract: European countries have recently established electoral constituencies and quotas for their outer citizens. The panel seeks invites scholars interested in the political use of “dual citizenship”. We welcome studies comparing European practices, as well as more theoretical approaches to the issue of voting rights for groups of citizens. Panel 6: The Dimensions, Causes and Consequences of EU Citizenship in Times of Crisis Chair: Kaat Smets, University of London, Royal Holloway College Abstract: In times in which the call for renegotiation of EU membership grows, more countries risk the need of help from their European partners and anti-EU parties are on the rise, the future direction of the European Union is uncertain. This panel welcomes papers on various facets of EU citizenship, including – but not limited to – the dimensions, causes and consequences of EU citizenship (https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/eu-citizenship/). Panel 7: The Idea of 'Good-Enough' Citizen: Current Depictions of Citizens in the Discourses on Political Participation Chair: Elena García-Guitián, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid - Instituto de Políticas y Bienes Públicos del CSIC Abstract: The widespread critique of contemporary democracies, diagnosed as a crisis of representative institutions, has fuelled some confidence of citizens as the main agent for the renewal of democracy. This panel discusses these challenges to citizens in current times of change. Panel 8: The Informed Citizen – of Tomorrow Chair: Henry Milner, Université de Montréal Abstract: This panel focuses on the challenge facing contemporary democracies in maintaining and fostering an informed, attentive, and participating citizenry. We will emphasize aspects of the theme that help us understand young people’s prospects as citizens of tomorrow – since, ultimately, it is their choices that will determine if and how the challenge is to be met. We do know that, compared to the rest of the population, the generation that grew up with the Internet is less attentive to politics and participates in it less. And neither standard life-cycle developments, nor the adoption of “unconventional” forms of participation explain this. Panel 9: Theorising Noncitizenship Chair: Katherine Tonkiss, Aston University Abstract: This panel will facilitate robust debate over the conceptualisation of non-citizenship. The panel will take a non-traditional format, with each panelist discussing another panelist’s paper and its contribution to the overarching theme. Panel 10: Theorising Statelessness Chair: Tendayi Bloom, United Nations University Abstract: Although statelessness has existed as long as there have been states, it carries with it significant practical difficulties for individuals and creates substantial theoretical problems. Political Theory has been slow to address its implications. This panel invites papers about how political theorists can begin to address the question of statelessness.