Structuring Regional Citizenship: Historical Continuity and Contemporary Salience

Abstract

Recent scholarly research has shown that the traditional Westphalian notion of citizenship has been challenged by developments beyond the boundaries of the nationstate. Nonetheless, while significant attention has been devoted to the emergence of spheres of citizenship above the nation-state, little reference has been made to specific forms of membership in regional polities that could be called ‘citizenship’. This article contributes to this gap by bringing together various literature and historical examples to show that regional citizenship has something to offer in the light of global and transnational dynamic processes. In particular, the contribution highlights the historical continuity and contemporary salience of regional citizenship in contexts characterized by strong national minority groups. The article shows that regional citizenship promotes room to maneuver to redefine the membership and the entitlements provided by national citizenship models at a time when state borders are increasingly transcended through multiple forms of participation.