Citizenship

What is citizenship?

The word citizenship is a word and concept that has had a lot of uses and meanings through time. As society changes its nature and values, the meaning of citizenship goes through changes too. Throughout history, citizenship has maintained strong ethical links to justice, democracy and liberty and to debate about what a person’s conduct should be in society – the notion of ‘the good citizen’. We can define citizen as a participatory member of a political community.

In political philosophy, citizenship is a series of rights and responsibilities that relate to the individual as a member of a political community, including civic, political and social and economic rights and duties. Citizenship describes the relationship between the citizen and the state and the need for citizens to comprehend our democratic system, including its political and economic processes, institutions, laws, rights and responsibilities.

Living in a certain country does not necessarily mean that a person is a citizen of that said country. Citizenship is obtained by meeting the legal requirements of a nation, state or local government. A nation guarantees certain rights and privileges to its citizens. In return, citizens are expected to obey their country’s laws and defend it against its enemies.