ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP IN THE 1990s

Abstract

Citizenship has increasingly attracted the attention of politicians, public figures, political scientists and academic lawyers in the last decade or so. This may be seen from the range of those who went to press on the subject in 1989 and 1990. Douglas Hurd, then Home Secretary, and a number of other Conservative ministers began to extol the virtues of 'active citizenship' as a way of overcoming the lack of a sense of responsibility to the community, lawlessness and overdependence on the state. Paddy Ashdown advocated a 'Citizens' Britain' of free, participating, secure individuals in place of what he saw as a 'Citadel Britain' of oppressed, stressed people and a closed political system.' In April 1990 the Prince of Wales launched his 'Volunteers' scheme, under which young people would have opportunities to contribute to the public welfare and learn the value of participation and the feeling of belonging to the community through voluntary work. The Speaker's Commission on Citizenship put in a plea for the encouragement of citizenship through education in schools, through training of public servants to understand the duties of the state to its citizens, and through voluntary service to the community (the Commission was associated with the Prince's Trust launch of the 'Volunteers' scheme). Citizenship is to become a cross-curricular subject in the national curriculum. The wide appeal of the concept derives in part from the fact that it is non-partisan, not associated with any particular political doctrine. The political parties each have a different vision of precisely what citizenship involves but they are all broadly agreed that it is a good thing and agree in general terms at least on its basic ingredients. Although, as we shall see, citizenship has much to do with the individual rights of citizens, the concept lacks the implication of liberal individualism often associated with 'human rights' and found objectionable by many on the political left. Although it is often taken to imply that the citizen is entitled to 'social rights', it does not immediately conjure up a picture of socialist collectivism which would alienate those on the right. It does imply a responsibility to the community and appeals therefore to thinkers on the right of the political spectrum concerned about 'active