2. Theories of citizenship and their history

Abstract

There are two types of theory on citizenship: normative theories that try to set out the rights and duties citizens ought to have, and empirical theories that aim to describe and explain how citizens came to possesses those rights and duties. ‘Theories of citizenship and their history’ examines these two types by concentrating on theories that we see in contemporary debate. The dominant normative ‘models’ of citizenship are rooted in ancient Greece and Rome. The most influential empirical theories concern the development of democratic citizenship within the nation states of Western Europe. These latter types of theories aim to see current democratic, welfare states as partial manifestations and amalgamations of various aspects of the two dominant normative models.