Citizenship and Intergroup Accommodation in Plural Societies

Abstract

For the purposes of a discussion of the way in which citizenship can play a significant part in the accommodation of various population groups within the same state, it will be accepted that a plural society is one in which people of differing race, colour, descent and national or ethnic origin live, each group possessing to a varying degree its own language, culture and identity. The scope of this enquiry will be the question whether citizenship affords a sound basis for the distribution of power between the various population groups so as to ensure that there will not be any domination of one group by the others and that discrimination will be eliminated. The reason why citizenship is considered a crucial factor in the equal distribution of power is that citizenship, as a juridical concept, contains within itself the three components which are supposed to comprise the sum total of a subject’s public law competences, i.e. political, civil and social rights.1 Therefore, if a citizen enjoys full citizenship, he should be able to exercise full rights and benefits in the political, social and civil spheres of life: on the other hand, if, in his capacity as a citizen, he is denied the fulfilment of these rights, he must of necessity be considered a second or even third-class citizen. This enquiry will be whether it is possible to have various kinds of citizens, all having the same nationality, in order to construe a plural structure in society in such a way that diversity does not become a means of ‘divide and rule’ but of safeguarding the rights and privileges of all citizens.