Nature of Citizenship

WHAT IS CITIZENSHIP?

• Citizenship refers to the status of an individual as a full and responsible member of a political community.
• A citizen is someone who owes allegiance to the state and, in return, receives protection from the state.
• Citizenship involves fulfilling duties and obligations towards the state, which grants the individual civil, political, and social rights.
• It signifies a two-way relationship between the individual and the state.
• A subject is typically subservient to the state, where the right to rule is reserved for a privileged class, whereas citizens constitute the state.
• Citizenship arises from a community where the right to rule is determined by a prescribed procedure reflecting the will of the general body of its members.
• The procedure for ascertaining the will of the people ensures that no one is discriminated against on grounds of race, religion, gender, place of birth, etc.
• T.H. Marshall in his Citizenship and Social Class (1950) noted that citizenship implies full membership of a community, with individuals being equal regarding their rights and duties.
• Marshall argued that different societies assign different rights and duties to the status of citizenship, and there is no universal principle determining the necessary rights and duties.
• Some groups may feel unsatisfied with their existing rights and may be regarded as citizens in a formal sense but not in a substantive sense, as some rights are denied to them in practice.
• These groups may engage in social movements to restore their rights, combining conventional political participation (e.g., voting, lobbying) with unconventional activities (e.g., protests, sit-ins, demonstrations).
• Examples of such movements include the abolitionist movement, civil rights movements in America, working-class movements in Europe, and adivasi and dalit movements in India.
• The original concept of citizenship primarily focused on the sense of duty, with the issue of rights being secondary.
• In contemporary society, citizenship is mainly concerned with the rights of the individual, with duties accepted only as necessary for maintaining those rights.