Interpretations Of Citizenship Research Articles

Citizenship as Understood by St. Petersburg Young People and their Parents

The problematization of youth citizenship from the perspective of participation in traditional institutionalized politics not only questions the relevance of the dominant theoretical and methodological grounds for studying citizenship in modern conditions, but also calls for a new look at youth as a generation, including their parents. The article is devoted to the analysis of ideas about citizenship in the generational perspective. Based on the concepts of everyday citizenship developed in youth research and a qualitative methodology, the work explores the meanings and interpretations of citizenship as part of personal experience by young adults (18–26 years) and their parents in St. Petersburg. The ideal-typical ideas about citizenship and the reflection on one’s own citizenship are consistently discussed. The analysis of empirical material shows that young people have formed and share a relatively conventional model of citizenship as active involvement in social changes in everyday space. For the parent generation, citizenship is predominantly defined in moral and ethical categories and is manifested through responsible labor activity. At the same time, a more active and socially oriented position of youth leads to a change in intergenerational interaction: not only older generation transmit their values and experience to the younger, but also vice versa.

Whose politics and which science: beyond the colonial in liberal political theory

ABSTRACTThis article examines liberal political theory’s limits and possibilities in relation to indigenous self-determination. It shows that while the liberal tradition has provided theoretical rationale to the colonial project it is also equipped to rationalise a politics of substantive indigenous inclusion. The article introduces the recourses that exist within liberal theory for non-colonial interpretations of citizenship, democracy and sovereignty. It shows how these concepts may be interpreted to contribute to a liberal theory of indigeneity as a theory emphasising independent indigenous authority on the one hand and culturally contextualised and substantive participation in the politics of the state on the other.

Algorithmic Citizenship, Digital Statelessness

An algorithmic interpretation of citizenship and its implementation

Crossing Boundaries: Acts of Citizenship among Migrant Youth in Melbourne

This paper focuses on how migrant youth in Melbourne with experience of direct or indirect migration negotiate cross-cultural engagements and tensions between family, community and the greater society in which they are supposed to participate as political subjects. It examines whether the meaning and interpretation of citizenship in Australia allows migrant youth to act as full and active citizens with all the contradictions and difficulties inherent in acting as “a bridge between two worlds”. By voicing the personalised journeys of young people dealing with uneasy questions of displacement, identity and belonging, this paper examines the complex ways through which migrant youth negotiate and in some cases bridge intercultural tensions within a multicultural society.

Jewish-Arab Relations in Israeli Freemasonry: Between Civil Society and Nationalism

This article applies ethnographic methods and historical analysis to explore Jewish-Arab relations within Israeli Freemasonry. The article tracks local Masonic history as the fraternity developed from individual lodges under colonial- like obediences in late Ottoman and Mandate-era Palestine into a national-level organization, under the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel. In light of an official position of political noninvolvement, Jewish and Arab-Palestinian members conveyed shared values of universal fraternity, but variable interpretations of citizenship and nationalism.In 1995, the Masonic Grand Lodge of Argentina inaugurated the International Masonic Peace Prize, to be awarded to individuals and institutions engaged in pro- moting brotherhood and peaceful coexistence among groups and nations. Among its recipients were Juan Goldwaser and Rami Farran, credited for establishing a model of cooperation and intervisitation between their respective lodges in Tel Aviv and Nazareth and for strengthening fraternal links and personal contacts between Jewish and Arab Freemasons in Israel.1 In the face of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, alienation between Israel's Jewish and Palestinian citizens remains a central cleavage in Israeli society, with limited social ties between the two communities. Against this backdrop, Israeli Freemasons take pride in organizational and personal ties between Jewish and Arab members. This study provides a first window into the complexities of these interactions, examining the tension between civic and national attachments in the eyes of local Masons.Freemasonry, arguably the world's largest and oldest fraternal order, began to spread internationally in the 18th century, on the wings of British and French imperial- ism. Structured as a quasi-secret society, Freemasonry formed perhaps the first social network of global scope in modern times. Historians note how its professed principles of universal brotherhood and enlightened civility translated in various instances into either particularist national or Eurocentric identifications among local members in the 18th and 19th centuries.2 On one hand, within the secluded spaces of Masonic lodges, men of diverse occupational, social, religious, and ethnic backgrounds were able to discuss questions of constitution, self-governance, and social order, and to settle disputes by employing a civic/democratic political vocabulary.3 On the other hand, outside of the lodge, individual members of Masonic lodges often actively participated in struggles for national independence, as noted in the United States, Latin America,4 the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-7,5 the 1908 Young Turk Revolution,6 and the first democratic revolution in Egypt in 1919.7 When facing antidemocratic regimes, it is easy to understand why Freemasons might join national revolutions in the name of liberal universal values. But even as their nation-states were established in the 18th century and later, local lodge members often favored patriotism over universalism.8 This tendency is particularly evident in the Israeli case, where in 1953, Masonic lodges organized as a na- tionwide organization, termed the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel (hereafter, GLSI), that incorporated all lodges in places that fell under Israeli sovereignty.This article explores how universalist values and particularist preferences are ne- gotiated by local masons in Israel, drawing on personal interviews and participant obser- vations during lodge activities.9 GLSI is one of the only recognized local grand lodges operating to date in the Middle East.10 It adheres to the orthodox principles of main- stream English Freemasonry, among them a stated belief in God (or a Supreme Being) and an exclusion of women from membership, although members' wives often assume active roles in lodge social life. The majority of Israeli Freemasons are Jewish. How- ever, four lodges have largely Christian-Arab memberships, with small-to-negligible Druze and Muslim participation. …

Return Migration and Selective Citizenship: A Study of Returning Chinese Professional Migrants from the United States

This study examines one of the largest online communities of returning Chinese professional migrants and explores migrants' choices and interpretations of citizenship. It proposes the concept of "selective citizenship," showing how migrants negotiate complex citizenship requirements and choose nationality based on the international hierarchy of nation-states and on individual needs. Selecting or changing nationality is also a way for migrants to adapt to local conditions and assert their own identity and autonomy. "Selective citizenship" thus challenges the popular and idealized "dual nationality" model and reminds us of the importance of full considerations of historical and local contexts.

Evaluating State-promoted Civic Engagement and Participation of Vulnerable Groups: The Paradoxical Policies of the Social Support Act in the Netherlands

AbstractThis article reports on the effects of the Social Support Act (Wmo) in the Netherlands, implemented in 2007. The Dutch Act resembles the current European political interpretation of citizenship: stressing self-responsibility in one's personal life, fighting against elements of the welfare state that are believed to be invasive and implying a shared responsibility of government and civil society for the care of socially vulnerable groups. Data were collected on the basis of two surveys evaluating the effects of the Wmo for voluntary organisations and professional non-profit institutions in social care and welfare (2007: N = 383 and 2009–10: N = 389). In addition, in-depth interviews with stakeholders and qualitative case studies were carried out. The study yields several paradoxical policy outcomes. Contrary to the objectives of the Social Support Act, a ‘revitalisation’ of the Dutch civil society – in terms of a greater contribution to social goals and policies – remains problematic, whilst professional entities thrive under the new governmental élan. Other paradoxical outcomes stem from a too-dogmatic approach to the social participation of people with severe mental disabilities. Instigating the socialisation of these groups through mandatory measures can in practice increase their isolation. To reduce unintended effects, the Social Support Act should take into account the divergent capacities of vulnerable groups and prioritise the psychological safety of clients over political and administrative policy objectives.

Reinventing the Employable Citizen: A Perspective for Social Work

In workfare-as-welfare regimes, welfare states attempt to increase efforts to employ economically inactive individuals, such as people with chronic 'mental health problems', through a wide range of activation strategies. In this article, we draw upon insights obtained from a recent research project in Belgium, in which social workers are charged with managing labour market training programmes. In the project, we explored the experiences of people with 'mental health problems' to identify ways in which supportive tenets for people in search of employment can be constructed. We aim to transfer the Belgian experience to the British context in an analysis of the various notions and interpretations of citizenship in social practices. In the analysis, we differentiate between notions and experiences of normative and relational citizenship. In conclusion, we argue that a relational approach to citizenship enables social workers in Belgium to make use of their discretionary space to (re)negotiate the finality of employment trajectories in a flexible way. From an international perspective, we conclude that social workers are in a critical position to influence the workfare-as-welfare agenda of social policy makers.

Young People as Real Citizens: Towards an Inclusionary Understanding of Citizenship

Based on a major qualitative study, this article examines young people's status as citizens. It argues that UK social policy assumes that young people lack citizenship—and so need interventions to develop their citizenship—but that this assumption is not based on concepts of citizenship, but on how youth is (mis)perceived. The research found that the young people prescribed to a number of different interpretations of citizenship, often simultaneously. It found that certain narrow conceptions—such as the employment-oriented model—can serve to exclude young people. Other models—such as that relating to socially constructive participation—better highlight young people's citizenship. The paper concludes by calling for a more conceptually comprehensive and inclusive view of citizenship, so that young people's status as citizens can be better appreciated.

Citizenship Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa

How is citizenship understood in South Africa, a new democracy with a deeply divided past? This paper describes the approach to citizenship education in recent educational policy, and in curriculum developments. It does so against the background of a conceptualisation of citizenship based on both the participatory vision of the anti-apartheid struggle and on the citizen as presented in the new Constitution. The shifting nature of the divisions that still deeply divide this society is explored, together with tensions between what can be called the official conceptualisation of citizenship and a more popular interpretation of citizenship as access to socio economic rights. This tension poses potential problems in the democratic polity, as well as a challenge for citizenship education.

Amending the Whig Interpretation of Citizenship: A Review Essay on "Extending Citizenship, Reconfiguring States"

Amending the Whig Interpretation of Citizenship: A Review Essay on "Extending Citizenship, Reconfiguring States"

“Disrupt, Transgress, and Invent Possibilities” Feminists' Interpretations of Educating for Democratic Citizenship

This paper explores the possibilities created by feminist and other alternative interpretations of citizenship in democratic societies — particularly as these concepts relate to secondary social studies education. The study involved five women — four secondary social studies teachers and one university-based researcher — in a series of focus group discussions. Each of the study's participants identified individual goals she hoped to obtain through her participation. As the university-based researcher, my goal was to create stories, grounded in our discussions, which would encourage readers to “disrupt, transgress, and invent possibilities” (Fine, 1992, p. xii) about the meaning of citizenship in a postmodern world. In addition, I wanted to explore “how we perform the magical feat of transforming the contents of our consciousness into a public form that others can understand” (Eisner, 1997, p. 4).

Learning and Citizenship: Pupils’ Perceptions in a Local Authority Raising Achievement Strategy

This paper discusses pupils’ implicit and explicit ideas about citizenship education from a study in which children aged 11 and 14 were interviewed in groups about classroom learning and teaching, and about wider experiences of learning, encompassing community involvement, preparation for parenthood and citizenship. Pupils were invited to consider the relevance to their experiences of statements based on local authority ‘raising achievement process targets’. Pupils sought to widen their opportunities to be involved in decisions about their learning and about school life. They adopted a social and moral interpretation of citizenship, however, and in spite of awareness of social problems, tended to reject the relevance to themselves of political understanding. The findings are considered at a time of renewed public commitment to education for citizenship at national and local levels.

From selfish individualism to citizenship: avoiding health economics' reputed 'dead end'.

Recent interpretations of citizenship are firmly rooted in the value of social membership and social participation. Citizens are described as having a moral right to draw upon the support of the community, but at the same time have a responsibility to contribute to the provision of social services such as health care. In contrast, contemporary health economics has been criticised for taking a narrow and individualistic view of human behaviour. This paper examines the extent to which economic theory and practice have been developed to accommodate a more 'civic' view, namely, the notions of mutual concern for community members, social participation and social rights. It is argued that because the provision of health care is often linked to feelings of compassion and social responsibility and not just to individual well-being, this sort of insight may enrich economic analysis and, in turn, provide a way around health economics' reputed 'dead end'.

Citizenship in the Empowered Locality

Although liberal and communitarian interpretations of citizenship differ profoundly, they nevertheless offer essentially similar prescriptions in support of empowered localities. The authors argue, instead, that the rejected alternative of consolidated government better promotes both interpretations of effective citizenship. They develop this argument by more fully specifying the behavioral implications of the two views of citizenship and theoretically linking those behaviors to fragmented and consolidated urban institutions using the Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect model introduced by Lyons and Lowery in 1986. They then test the central proposition derived from that analysis using a comparison group design.