Comments on: A shared sense of place in the world http://citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/blogs/main/2007/04/27/a-shared-sense-place-in-the-world/ General musings from Citizenship Foundation staff Thu, 17 May 2012 05:59:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: tony breslin http://citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/blogs/main/2007/04/27/a-shared-sense-place-in-the-world/#comment-41 tony breslin Thu, 10 May 2007 14:47:47 +0000 http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/blogs/?p=24#comment-41 The Madrid discussions are interesting indeed, especially the debate around 'citizen' or 'subject', one that we have had pitched to us at the Foundation on many occasions. Of course, it depends not on what kind of state you live in (monarchy or republic) but on what kind of citizenship you mean. If we define citizenship in the narrow legal sense of status, then the suggestion that subjects cannot be citizens has a technical truth about it. But that is not what we mean by citizenship - we mean a citizenship of process: individuals engaging in society, effecting change (or seeking to effect change) in society or in a given community or institutional setting, building and rebuiding their senses of identity, belonging, commitment in so doing. Legally, those of us who live in monarchies may by the strictest of definitions be subjects but all of us who live in democracies have the opportunity (and some would say the oblgation) to be citizens. Whether we take that opportunity as often as we should is another thing, and whether we sufficiently encourage and empower our young to be citizens is a moot point. Citizenship Education on our school curriculum (an innovation that in England is as recent as 2002) is a good start and many schools and young people are now reaping the benefits. But, as the daily news bulletins remind us, we have a long, long way to go. The Madrid discussions are interesting indeed, especially the debate around ‘citizen’ or ’subject’, one that we have had pitched to us at the Foundation on many occasions. Of course, it depends not on what kind of state you live in (monarchy or republic) but on what kind of citizenship you mean. If we define citizenship in the narrow legal sense of status, then the suggestion that subjects cannot be citizens has a technical truth about it. But that is not what we mean by citizenship - we mean a citizenship of process: individuals engaging in society, effecting change (or seeking to effect change) in society or in a given community or institutional setting, building and rebuiding their senses of identity, belonging, commitment in so doing.

Legally, those of us who live in monarchies may by the strictest of definitions be subjects but all of us who live in democracies have the opportunity (and some would say the oblgation) to be citizens.

Whether we take that opportunity as often as we should is another thing, and whether we sufficiently encourage and empower our young to be citizens is a moot point. Citizenship Education on our school curriculum (an innovation that in England is as recent as 2002) is a good start and many schools and young people are now reaping the benefits. But, as the daily news bulletins remind us, we have a long, long way to go.

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