Development Of European Citizenship Research Articles

O espaço europeu de ensino superior e cidadania europeia

O presente artigo objetiva resgatar os antecedentes, bem como a trajetória da construção do Espaço Europeu de Ensino Superior – EEES –, apontando que a ideia de sua organização é anterior ao Processo de Bolonha, embora este tenha sido sua face mais conhecida. O texto busca cotejar essa construção com a busca de uma nova ideia de cidadania europeia. Considera-se no texto os marcos de repercussão política, jurídica e educacional no âmbito do concerto europeu contemporâneo, idealizando um conceito de Europa alargada e, igualmente, um espaço para a sua projeção no campo educacional no mundo globalizado, contribuindo para a alocação e desenvolvimento da cidadania europeia, valor que se vincula aos campos da cultura e da educação e, neste caso, à constituição de uma universidade europeia com harmonização de estrutura, currículo, tempo, créditos e níveis de formação. O EEES passou a existir formalmente, a partir de 2010, embora sua estruturação continue em processo, seja por conta das questões próprias dos 48 países que o compõem, seja pelas questões internas das universidades que a ele se agregam.

On the CJEU’s post-Brexit case-law on European citizenship. The recovery of the identity Ariadne’s thread?

The CJEU over the years has helped to forge a concept of citizenship directed to be the “fundamental status of the nationals of the Member States”. However, since the Dereci ruling of 2011, the proactivity of the CJEU concerning the development of European citizenship seemed to have gradually exhausted itself, mostly as far as the so-called social citizenship. It happens, nonetheless, that this crucial moment the European Union faces demands the enhancement of its vertical relation with the citizenry – it is either this or fragmentation. And perhaps this is the subliminal message from the CJEU in three post-Brexit rulings that, decided in the Grand Chamber, surprisingly recover and develop the most emblematic case-law about the European citizenship – namely the Rottmann and Zambrano rulings – whose political potential and/or identity potential seemed irrevocably muzzled. The rulings Rendón Marín, CS and Petruhhin point to the connection between European citizenship and the fundamental rights protection in the EU and possibly even represent an attempt to recover the identity dimension of European citizenship, nourished by a sense of belonging to a community of rights and obligations.

Die Bürgerschaft der Europäischen Union

The article uses the comparative history of federal systems to interpret the citizenship of the European Union as a form of federal citizenship. The general categories of contemporary citizenship law implicitly refer to centralized states. In order to free ourselves from such unitary concepts, we have to consider the forms of tiered, nested citizenship that have characterized empires, (post) colonial arrangements, and earlier federal systems. Research in comparative federalism is particularly useful here. Thus, the article highlights the beginnings of federal citizenship in the early stages of the United States, Switzerland, and Germany, and stresses parallels with the development of European citizenship. The striking similarities between the citizenship of the early federations and EU citizenship should no longer be overlooked.

Language teaching for European citizenship: insights for teacher education

A drive for the development of European citizenship (EC) through Modern Foreign Language (MFL) teaching has existed for some time within the academic literature as well as policy institutions. Nevertheless, the views of MFL teachers on the role of MFL in developing EC have rarely been given a voice. This article presents the findings of a study conducted in eight schools in four European countries. Through semi-structured interviews with 19 secondary school teachers of MFL, the study investigated teachers' views on the teaching of the EC and their understandings of their role as MFL teachers. The study also examined teachers' considerations on what such teaching might include, their preparedness for the task and their perceptions of challenges they may face. Findings show that teachers are supportive of the development of active EC but highlight a number of systemic and situational challenges, particularly in England. Findings are discussed in light of the European dimension of teacher education as well as socio-cultural perspectives on second language teacher education.

The dynamics of European citizenship: Enactment, extension and assertion

When interpreted as citizenship of the European Union, the development of European citizenship has prompted a series of debates on rights, membership and belonging, and democracy and constitutionalism. These debates can be enriched by highlighting the ways in which European citizenship is enacted by a variety of actors. It is argued that acts of European citizenship occur under two different dynamics: extension and assertion. Acts under the dynamic of extension are most often acts extending existing legal citizenship regimes by formal and public institutions, such as the European Court of Justice. Acts under the hitherto relatively neglected dynamic of assertion are likely to be more diffuse in location and visibility and uncertain in their goals and impacts. Understanding such acts – and the links between acts under the two dynamics – has the potential to reinvigorate and expand research agendas in the study of European citizenship.

Interactions between European Citizenship and Language Learning among Adolescent Europeans

Recent enlargement of the European Union (EU) has created debate as to the suitability of current structures and policies for effectively engaging citizens and developing social cohesion. Education and specifically modern foreign language (MFL) teaching are argued by the literature to play a key role in equipping young people to interact and communicate effectively in the ever-changing European context and to exercise their rights as European citizens. However, much of the empirical research to date has focused on adult understandings of European citizenship. Furthermore, very few studies consider whether current MFL teaching is addressing issues of European citizenship or offer a comparison of provision between one member state and another. This study presents questionnaire data from four European countries to investigate young people's current understanding and awareness of European citizenship and the perceived contribution of their language learning experience to this awareness. Findings suggest that knowledge about European citizenship is patchy across the four countries. Reports on learning in MFL lessons indicate a mismatch between the role identified for the subject in the development of European citizenship and the situation in the classroom. Data gathered from English pupils suggest that these issues are more acute in England than they are in France, Spain or Ireland.

French Municipal Democracy: Cradle of European Citizenship?

This paper aims to make a contribution to the empirical study of the development of European citizenship at grass roots level, through the analysis of political participation of non-French EU citizens resident in France (NFEUCRIFs) at local elections in 2001 and 2008 in France. Official statistics show that whilst there has been a considerable increase in 2008 both in terms of voter registration and election to municipal councils compared with 2001, these figures still represent only a tiny proportion of the total number of voters and elected candidates. Nevertheless, France remains a fruitful site for further qualitative analysis of how these ‘pioneers’ of European citizenship may (or may not) be contributing to the building of some kind of ‘Eurodemocracy’ at grass-roots level, and whether or not any links between municipal politics and the wider European framework can be meaningfully established.

What Kind of Citizenship for European Higher Education? Beyond the Competent Active Citizen

How might European higher education contribute to the promotion and development of European citizenship? In this article, the author addresses this question through a critical discussion of the notions of ‘active citizenship’ and ‘civic competence’, which play a central role in current policy and research on the role of education in the development of European citizenship. The author argues that there is a tendency within the idea of ‘active citizenship’ to depoliticise the very idea of citizenship because it is based upon a consensus notion of democracy and a functionalist understanding of citizenship and the formation of citizens. The author also argues that the idea of civic competence reduces civic learning and political education to a form of socialisation which undermines rather than supports political agency. For these reasons, the author argues that European higher education should not aim to become a socialising agent for the production of the competent active citizen but should seek to support modes of political action and civic learning that embody a commitment to a more critical and more political form of European citizenship than what is envisaged in the ideas of ‘active citizenship’ and ‘civic competence’.

Fellowship of fate and fellowships of faith: religious education and citizenship education in Europe1

In this paper the relationship between religious identity and engagement in citizenship is examined from an educational point of view. The Dutch systematic theologian Erik Borgman refers to the development of European citizenship as a project of ‘fellowship of fate’: we will need to rediscover a common vision on humanity for Europe as fellow human beings, living in similar urban and multicultural contexts. This issue is both of a (religious) educational and a theological nature. The main research question is: How can we coexist as fellows of fate and at the same time consider ourselves as participants to particular fellowships of faith? This question is addressed by reference to the latest developments in the field of religious education theory and practice, generally acknowledged as a field with a longstanding tradition of vision and discernment.

Citizenship, migration and the valuation of care in the European Union

This paper examines the relationship between care and mobility. It does so within the specific context of intra‐EU migration and the development of European citizenship. Citizenship of the Union bestows valuable social rights on mobile community nationals. Entitlement under the provisions is not, however, universal but conditional and privileges those in paid work. The paper considers the implications of this emphasis on paid work in two related respects: firstly, the impact on those people who move as part of the ‘male breadwinning family’ but are not engaged in paid work (the partners and families of workers); and secondly those community citizens whose migration decisions are shaped by the need to provide unpaid care to family members. Drawing on empirical research with migrant families, the paper concludes that the concept of work in Community law places those people who are not engaged in paid work (and family carers in particular) in a highly vulnerable and dependent position. Furthermore, the assumption of fixed and predictable dependency relationships within migrant families that underpins the law (and to some degree migration theory) fails to take account of the fluid and complex nature of dependency and caring relationships over the life‐course.

Improving the Position of Lesbians and Gay Men at Work in the Light of the Framework Directive for Equal Treatment in Employment: A German Case-Study

The Framework Directive for equal treatment in employment adopted in November 2000 by the Council of Ministers marks an important event for the millions of lesbians and gay men within the European Union. It follows hard on the heels of the successful lobbying to have “sexual orientation” included within an anti-discrimination article inserted into the Community treaties by the Treaty of Amsterdam, as part of the development of European citizenship.