Forms Of Citizenship Research Articles

Harnessing the power of dialogue: examining the impact of facebook content on citizens’ engagement

ABSTRACT The present study sheds light on the under-researched relationship between social media content and citizens’ engagement, as well as the impact of dialogic communication on citizens’ engagement. To this end, Facebook content of the five largest Greek municipalities was examined. A six-dimensional typology of social media content posted by local governments on Facebook was proposed. The results suggest that dialogic posts and posts that trigger offline participatory activities exerted significant influence on all forms of citizens’ online engagement. It is recommended that social media managers of local governments in Greece, as well as other countries with similar public administration styles and social media usage patterns, create dialogic loops with their citizenry by addressing users’ questions and concerns through Facebook posts. Moreover, they could publish rich media content on Facebook in the form of videos and posts that mobilise citizens to participate in various offline activities (e.g., events, council meetings).

Assyrians Without Borders: Middle Eastern Christians Towards a New Form of Citizenship in Sweden

This article presents a case study of a Swedish-based NGO, Assyrians Without Borders (AWB), whose priority objective is to help Middle Eastern Christians, mainly Assyrians/Syriacs, in need in their homeland. The paper argues that Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden have developed three forms of citizenship – religious, political and democratic. All three forms are transnational and have the potential to challenge the idea of national citizenship as being the dominant model of citizenship. Participating in AWB is understood as practising democratic citizenship, a concept seen as the Swedish ideal of model citizenship. The paper claims that AWB empowers its members and helps them to construct a mutually reinforcing dual Assyrian-Swedish identity.

РЕАЛИЗАЦИЯ ПРАВА ГРАЖДАН НА УЧАСТИЕ В ОТПРАВЛЕНИИ ПРАВОСУДИЯ: ВОЗМОЖНЫЕ ПУТИ РЕФОРМИРОВАНИЯ В УГОЛОВНОМ ПРОЦЕССЕ

The Constitution of the Russian Federation considers the jury as a form of citizens’ participation in the administration of justice, though it was not widely accepted for a long time. Recreated in the early 1990s, the jury trial suffered from limited powers. Subsequently, the range of criminal cases within its jurisdiction became even more limited. The jury expanded its jurisdiction when introduced to district courts in June 1, 2018. On the one hand, the expanded jurisdiction of the jury improves activities of the court and other participants in the criminal process. On the other hand, the changes did not result in the effective exercise of the right of citizens to participate in the administration of justice, which suggests the necessity of the jury’s further expansion. Since it is difficult not to ensure the participation of the jury in minor and medium gravity cases, the increase in the number of cases brought before a jury should occur at the expense of certain types of grave and especially grave crimes. The expansion of the jury competence on grave and especially grave crimes will not be a final solution to the problem of involving citizens in the administration of justice. In contrast to Soviet Russia, where popular representatives (lay judges) exercised control over the judges in all criminal cases at first instance, today, in most cases, justice is administered by judges alone. The people’s court has advantages over the sole consideration of the case, as it ensures open justice, increases the responsibility of professional participants in the process, and raises the prestige of performing judicial functions. It is possible to return lay judges to district courts for non-grave and medium-grave cases implying custodial punishment. Thus, the effective implementation of the constitutional right of citizens to participate in the administration of justice can be achieved through various forms. Expanding the jury’s competence at the expense of certain types of grave and especially grave crimes, the introduction of lay judges for non-grave and medium-grave crimes implying custodial punishment will promote a broader participation of citizens in the administration of justice.

Features of the implementation of the constitutional right of citizens to petition in the context of digitalization

The article is devoted to the search for possible improvement of the implementation of the constitutional right of citizens to apply to state and municipal authorities using digital technologies and means. The separate provisions of the legislation regulating the procedure and form of citizens’ appeals to public authorities were considered. Proposals have been formulated to amend the legislation, taking into account the development of information and communication technologies.

Children, Citizenship and Environment: #Schoolstrike Edition by Bronwyn Hayward (review)

Book Review: Children, Citizenship and Environment: #Schoolstrike Edition 154 Children, Citizenship and Environment: #Schoolstrike Edition Bronwyn Hayward (2020) London: Routledge, 259 pages $160 (Hardcover), $39.95 (paperback); ISBN: 978-0367429621 $39.95 (ebook); http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003000396 Our planet is now in a new age, the Anthropocene epoch. This threshold has become emblematic for citizens, academics, and politicians to focus not only upon our existing ecological reality but our social realities as well. Our collective next steps to deal with this reality have at times forgotten the voices of children and youth. Not any longer, as argued in Bronwyn Hayward’s book Children, Citizenship and Environment: #Schoolstrike Edition. Children and youth activism for the environment has been reignited by the global School Strike for Climate (SS4C) initiative, asking schools to participate in demonstrations to demand action from political leaders to mitigate climate change and decarbonize our energy industry. This was championed by Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg, who staged a solo protest in August 2018 outside the Swedish parliament, holding a sign that read "Skolstrejk för klimatet" (School strike for climate; Hahn, 2021). While the current #SchoolStrike movement continues to be impactful, the work of children’s environmental activism has been the focus of Bronwyn Hayward’s scholarship well before Greta arrived on the scene. Her research focuses upon the intersection of sustainable development, youth, climate change and citizenship, as demonstrated by her contributions to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and leadership with a global initiative that spans seven cities worldwide titled, Children and Youth in Cities Lifestyle Evaluation Study (CYCLES). In this revised edition of Hayward’s ground-breaking book, Children, Citizenship and Environment, she re-examines how students, teachers, parents, and other activists learn to take effective action to confront the complex realities of climate change and other environmental challenges globally in light of the new #SchoolStrike movement. This edition draws on interviews conducted as part of the CYCLES initiative with young people in New Zealand, and includes new contributions by youth, indigenous peoples, social inclusion activists, researchers and educators, so as to provide a contemporary perspective that reminds us of the importance of youth activism and its social nexus in communities. The book is divided into eight chapters, each providing a comprehensive and succinct overview of important premises for the scholarship, along with updated commentaries gleaned from youth and other concerned citizens, professionals, and activists. Chapter 1 provides the raison d'être for the updated book as predicated on the #SchoolStrike movement. Chapter 2 builds upon the 2012 edition by having a wider discussion of the prospects of children who live in New Zealand, who are now older (ages 12-18) than the previous edition’s participants, and by listening carefully to adolescent discussions about well-being and the decarbonization of Book Review: Children, Citizenship and Environment: #Schoolstrike Edition 155 cities. Importantly, this chapter frames her research findings in the context of Anglo-American neoliberal democracies, and how youth agency has manifested itself in the New Zealand context. One of Hayward’s key research questions is to understand how children and youth can learn new forms of citizenship now to better equip themselves to thrive in the Anthropocene epoch. Chapter 3 begins to address this question by introducing three-part typologies (i.e., FEARS, SMARTS, SEEDS) or models to analyze and interpret the important discussions and interviews conducted. Chapter 4 builds upon the individual agentic model of youth activism, as demonstrated by Greta Thunberg, and highlights the power of and necessity for social and political youth agency, which can transcend an individual narrative. Chapters 5 and 6 turn to the role of formal and informal education in creating outcomes that are not only focused on environmental knowledge and dispositions, but also address actionoriented competencies relevant to local communities with the goal of better addressing the complex socio-ecological intertwining of environmental issues such as climate change. Chapter 7 reflects upon how climate change activism has reignited the discussion regarding “deliberative democracy” and how this can be used to rethink and enact practices involving youth and place, as described by the youth-led Council of the Pacific. Finally, Chapter 8 provides...

ВЫХОД ИЗ ИМПЕРИИ В ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЙ И ВОСТОЧНОЙ ЕВРОПЕ : МАТЕРИАЛЫ МЕЖДУНАРОДНОЙ КОНФЕРЕНЦИИ. ЗАГРЕБСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ, 23-24 СЕНТЯБРЯ 2020

Recent studies of Habsburg Monarchy after 1917/1918, as a focus of attention, offer reinterpretations of both the transition out of empire and also of specific Habsburg legacies and practices that remained influential in the region long after 1918. In an attempt to shed more light on both of these aspects, an international conference in Zagreb was organised. The aim is to present papers on all aspects of the transition out of empire, on continuities and breaks among social elites, state institutions, administrative practices, legal codes, forms of citizenship, gender regimes, and welfare practices covering the period until the late 1930s.

Recuperar la ciudadanía post-deportación en la frontera México-Estados Unidos

This article aims to analyze the importance of formal citizenship in the reintegration process of people deported from the United States to Mexico. The analysis parts from the case study of deportations to the border city of Tijuana, Baja California, which includes 68 in-depth interviews focused on redocumentation to demonstrate their national affiliation. The main findings show that the condition of documentation plays a strategic role in the processes of re-citizenship in the countries of origin. Upon return by a process of deportation, there is a revitalization of the importance of formal citizenship that seemed outweighed in the face of the multiple forms of affiliation, belonging, and local participation. The role of private and social actors is strategic in the processes of redocumentation and recovery of the relationship of individuals with the State, which also reflects the reproduction of multiple social inequalities between subjects of the Mexican State.

Law, gender identity, and the uses of human rights: The paradox of recognition in South Asia

South Asia abounds with diverse gender identities that vary regionally based on religion, language, and cultural practices. Transgender rights activists have successfully deployed human rights rhetoric in order to obtain legal recognition of diverse gender identities from courts. However, the collapsing of these diverse identities and practices into a single category, under the transgender umbrella, by governments and judiciaries has created complex mechanisms for legal recognition of transgender persons. Simultaneously, international human rights principles are being invoked to win victories at the national level, which in turn offers insights into the dynamic interplay between law, activism, and human rights. In this article, we outline the constraints and opportunities presented by the changes in legal recognition of diverse gender identities across South Asia. We argue that the uses of international human rights statutes in national-level legal and judicial deliberations about recognizing transgender persons across South Asia offer limited opportunities, and mostly delimit access to formal citizenship, the very objective these laws seek to achieve. Simultaneously, this moment of wrestling with the limits of law, while continuing to demand full recognition from individual states, has given rise to cross-border mobilizations of a vibrant transgender rights movement. Such mobilizations reveal how diverse transgender activists are reinterpreting human rights principles in order to create coalitional multi-issue trans/justice movements throughout South Asia.

GAINING A SENSE OF CITIZENSHIP AND BELONGING IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND: The Work of Refugee Support Providers

This article examines the notion of citizenship in relation to refugee-background people by exploring how refugee support providers aid in the resettlement process in Aotearoa New Zealand. The policy and funding environment that these support providers work in is dynamic, and the contact they have with the refugees whom they support is complex and challenging. Refugees’ positions are precarious. While they are subject to screening by the immigration system and become integrated into a new society in material ways, they also negotiate new forms of citizenship. The research reveals the central role of refugee support organisations as enablers of citizenship in providing platforms that bridge the differences between cultures, amidst barriers.

Pre-Modern Citizenship. An Ancient Concept for the Modern World?

This article discusses the challenges and opportunities of turning to the pre-modern world to address contemporary problems. To do so it compares Maarten Prak’s approach to practical citizenship in Citizens without nations with Jurgen Habermas’s infamous evocation of the ‘bourgeois public sphere’. While different in important respects – not least in terms of the kind of historical citizenship they recover and the methods by which they do it – Prak and Habermas nevertheless share an important similarity. This is that both are quite idealistic, in an aspirational sense, about how their pre-modern forms of citizenship can benefit and improve the modern world. This sense of idealism can be contrasted with Max Weber’s preference for excavating ideal types that described, for better or worse, the normative values and behaviours of particular cultures in the past. This response then outlines the normative practices of Prak’s citizenship and asks whether they are really commensurate with modern life.

Citizenship in Early Modern China. A Commentary to Maarten Prak, Citizens Without Nations:

This article comments on the discussion of pre-modern Chinese citizenship in Maarten Prak’s Citizens without Nations. It confirms the conclusion drawn by Prak that many elements of European citizenship were also present in China, but raises questions about two aspects: the presumed absence of formal citizenship in China and the position of Chinese cities within a national administrative structure. On the first of these points the article shows that formal civilian status implied rights such as the protection of person and property in China as well as in Europe. On the second issue, it demonstrates that the authorities in Chinese cities, especially in periods when state power was relatively weak, depended on cooperation with self-organized local institutions, and that these also included organizations for self-defense.

Citizens' Participation in Electoral Governance: A Redistricting Process

Citizens’ participation in electoral governance can be considered as a means for insuring electoral integrity. Some cases and problems of this participation are discussed in contemporary literature. Less attention has been paid to institutional forms of citizens’ participation in electoral redistricting. The paper presents a systematic picture to fill this gap, it also reveals the prospects of citizens’ participation in this area of electoral governance. Methodological framework for the study is contemporary theory of citizens’ participation and the S. Arnstein`s “ladder” of citizens’ participation. Making cross-case generalisations, the paper addresses the empirical material from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Great Britain, the USA and Russia. It is conceivable that the adequate time frame for citizens’ participation and transparency are the most significant conditions for citizens` engagement.

Voting Rights Compared to Income Taxation and Welfare Benefits Through the Swedish Lens

Ongoing globalization and increased taxpayer mobility not only exacerbate already existing shortcomings when allocating taxing rights but also legal mismatches with regard to access to welfare benefits and voting rights. All three legal areas (taxation, access to welfare benefits, and voting rights) are of importance for those individuals who choose to work across borders or relocate themselves to another state on a more permanent basis. The extent of this importance will, naturally, vary between taxpayer groups due to individual circumstances and needs. Yet, some more general deductions may still be made.
 This Article identifies and analyses, through a traditional legal study, legal mismatches between taxation, access to welfare benefits, and voting rights in Sweden. These three legal areas are analysed through the application of a taxpayer case study consisting of six classical taxpayer groups commonly found within international taxation. The result of the study illustrates that there are apparent mismatches between taxpayer groups, some more comprehensible than others.
 In conclusion, mobile individuals may, as a result of disparities between tax allocation, formal citizenship, and voting privileges, contribute financially to a state yet not have the possibility to exercise influence over their tax situation due to the lack of formal citizenship and voting privileges in that particular state. Those who vote to change taxation and public spending are not always the same as those who pay taxes. This issue is naturally complex as the group of individuals excluded from such political influence is a highly diverse one, reaching from high net value individuals to stateless persons seeking asylum, subject to individual circumstances and needs. The Article is part of a larger body of work, done under the umbrella of Political (Tax) Equity in a Global Context, in which I explore how increased taxpayer mobility challenges not only traditional legal frameworks associated with taxation but also the allocation of political rights and benefits. The traditional perception of citizenship as the basis for voting rights is, as illustrated through various publications linked to the project, inadequate when dealing with mobile taxpayers.

Incorporation and the Morality of Profit in the Business of Cultural Activism

Typical scholarly analyses of ethnic incorporation draw on cases where older, preexisting political entities and their forms of citizenship become the basis for new entrepreneurial corporate identities structured around a set of legal profit-making practices. But what about the cases of ethnic incorporation where ethnicity articulates with legal incorporation without any such prior collective political entity to graft onto? This article draws on ethnographic research with indigenous Mapuche cultural activists to describe and analyze the place of private for-profit and not-for-profit associations in the State-sponsored market for indigenous cultural development work in Chile. Examining the dilemmas that Mapuche activists in Chile face as they pursue legal incorporation in order to access public funds and provide a firmer economic footing to their organizations, it explores the ways that activists negotiate the moral controversies surrounding the place of money, and private-law organizations, in the pursuit of Mapuche collective interests.

Influence of American and French Constitutional Ideas on the Institution of Modern Citizenship

“Citizenship” is a legal term. Citizenship means a person’s belonging to any state and implies the presence of mutual obligations of a person and a state. Citizenship is a separate institution of law. The modern form of citizenship is different from those that we re before. So it was precise because of the experience present, thanks to the evolution of citizenship. In this article, the formation and development of citizenship will be considered on the example of the revolutionary citizenship of France and America.

Participation in Cities in Sociological Discourse

Introduction. The social practice of participativeness, active participation in the transformation of urban space in the interests of residents, is gaining popularity among the urban population. The study of this phenomenon is interest for obvious integration with management decisions. Expanding the practice of implementing social activity of the population and studying the components of participativeness determine the goal of writing the paper-the formation of a theoretical and methodological basis for studying this phenomenon.Methodology and source. The paper presents a review of classical and modern sociological theories that reveal the potential of empirical study of aspects of the manifestation of participation of urban residents. Among the mentioned by the authors are the theory of social action, social solidarity, phenomenology, social constructivism.Results and discussion. The problematic nature of living in cities and the penetration of these problems into the daily interaction of citizens forms the origins of solidary participation of citizens-individual and private interests form collective actions-processes. Multiple individual forms of citizens' activity on urban improvement are transformed into participativeness – institutionalized joint activity. Its participants can take differentiated positions in the social structure of the urban community according to the criteria of having a diverse experience of interaction, i.e. exchange, with the urban environment and taking a position in the city management structure, which determines the level of regulated authority to make managerial decisions. The problems of urban life that are common to different categories of citizens and the typification of social activity to solve them order the interaction of participants, organize and “produce” the urban space.Conclusion. In the process of reasoning, a theoretical model of the formation of participativeness is presented, which allows us to trace the transformation of activity of the urban population into the right to the city and the formation of a favorable urban environment.

Dalla trasmissione alla condivisione: Ripensare il rapporto fra giornalismo e cittadini

Trust in journalistic media has decreased for many years. However, this decline is rarely linked to the transformations of forms of citizenship that characterize citizen participation in public space and a broader process of redefining the relationship between journalism and the public, accelerated by digital communication. The essay analyzes the main reasons for these changes and delineates the characteristics of a new information pact. Journalism delimits the facts, it selects and hierarchizes the events and social phenomena to be brought to the attention of the public opinion. This delimitation takes place on the basis of a negotiation with the sources and the public, progressively less available to rely on the definitions of the situations proposed by the press. The hiatus between the promise of completeness of information and the centrality of the facts and the effective operating modes of journalism is seized by demanding and critical citizens. If they capture limits and partialities in the journalistic mediation, they prefer other readings of society, or to share what is more in line with their vision of the world. However, the peculiarities of digital communication suggest a new informational pact between the journalistic institution and the citizens, in which the dense network of relationships defined between sources, the public and the journalistic system

Crossing the Border of Citizenship: Helen Taylor, the Independent Radical Democrat Candidate for Camberwell North, 1885

‘Until 1918, in principle, and 1928 in practice, women’s political activity in Britain was defined as beyond the frontier of formal citizenship’ (Abrams and Hunt, 2000). This article explores the campaign of one such frontier woman, Helen Taylor, to become the first woman MP. Taylor accepted the nomination of Camberwell Radical Club to stand as the Independent Radical Democrat candidate for Camberwell North in the November 1885 election. The radicals of Camberwell were, thereby, directly challenging the 1832 Reform Act which had legally excluded women from full citizenship.This article locates Taylor in the historiography of resistance to elite political culture, by radical clubs, in 1885. Links were made between Taylor’s candidature and that of previous non-elite candidates, namely the attempt of Daniel O’Connell, David Salomon and Charles Bradlaugh to breach the frontier of full citizenship for Catholics, Jews and atheists in previous elections. The Liberal Party had become more centralised through the power of local Liberal Associations and committees based on the Birmingham caucus model (Lawrence, 1998; Parry, 1993). This led to some radical clubs challenging the Liberal establishment ‘wire pullers’ and standing their own candidates, creating triangular contests between the Liberal, Independent/Radical and Conservative candidates (Owen, 2008). This article further explores the anomaly of all three Camberwell North candidates openly supporting Home Rule, in an election where the contentious Irish question has been identified as being avoided by the majority of candidates (Biagini, 2007). In Camberwell North this saw two factions of Irish nationalism endorsing separate candidates.The provenance of Taylor’s feminism, socialism and anti-imperialism is also examined, which rescues the campaign from being the actions of a well-connected upper middle-class eccentric. The only previous detailed exploration of Taylor’s candidature claimed it was the idiosyncratic whim of a political maverick whose manifesto would need explaining to the electorate (Pugh, 1978). On the contrary, Taylor’s candidature and manifesto were located in contemporary socialist, radical and liberal politics and no such explanation would have been necessary. It was very much of its time.

Soldier-Citizen Training: The Early Boy Scout Movement in Ethiopia (1920s–1950s)

Abstract Under the motto Zǝgǝğu! (Be prepared!), Ethiopian Boy Scouts attempt to become part of an imperial, national, and global community. Since its formation a century ago, the movement changed its character and served different ends. By looking at the foundational period between the 1920s and 1950s, this article investigates to what extent the Ethiopian movement provides a lens through which we can examine the notion of citizenship. Because scouting has a militarized connotation, this article probes the possibility of applying the concept of the “soldier-citizen” as a temporary, yet specific, form of citizenship. The article argues that during the 1920s and 1930s the Ethiopian movement had a clear militaristic aim. It functioned to train cadets, not serving citizens. In the postliberation context, the movement relied on ideas about taming and disciplining young men by channeling their energy towards building a modern nation. Through its inclusion in the newly established Department of Physical Education within the Ministry of Education and Fine Arts (MoE), scouting became an integral part of the educational system. The article argues that it provided a specific kind of citizenship training at a time when other volunteer organizations (e.g., the Young Men’s Christian Association [YMCA]) were also developing the notion of citizen into an aspirational category.

Colonial Subjects and Others: Racism and Inequality during Italian Rule in the Horn of Africa

Abstract In the history of the Horn of Africa, Italian colonial rule came as a new chapter of a long history of foreigner rulers, conflicts, and translocal exchanges. Yet, Italian colonialism left long-lasting traces in the memory of the inhabitants of Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia. The present contribution deals with citizenship policy in the territories of the Horn of Africa during Italian rule (1880s– 1940s). It centers on the racialized and instrumentalized form of citizenship, i.e., colonial subjecthood (sudditanza coloniale), created by the Kingdom of Italy to keep local colonial inhabitants outside of the metropolitan legal sphere. The basis for this differentiating policy was the Eurocentric assumption of a racial and cultural superiority of the colonizers vis-à-vis the colonized. Yet, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic differences kept existing in colonial society. The article examines the different meanings and contents colonial subjecthood assumed throughout the years of Italian rule and the reasons of those changes. Furthermore, it looks at how diverse members of local society faced the citizenship policy of the Italian colonizer and how they, if possible, tried to negotiate their legal condition on the spot.