Citizenship Concepts

This set of flashcards covers key concepts, definitions, and historical contexts of citizenship as discussed in the lecture.

What is citizenship?

A relationship between individuals and the state involving rights, duties, belonging, and political membership.

How do Painter & Jeffrey (2009) define citizenship?

Membership of a political community, historically linked to the modern state.

Why is citizenship more than just a legal status?

Because it also involves social belonging, identity, and political participation.

Why is citizenship inherently exclusionary?

Because granting rights to some people necessarily excludes others.

What kinds of rights does citizenship provide?

Legal protection, political participation, and access to welfare.

Who is often excluded from full citizenship?

Migrants, asylum seekers, prisoners, and some minority groups.

How did citizenship function in Ancient Greece?

As democratic participation limited to free men, excluding women, slaves, and foreigners.

How did the Roman Empire use citizenship?

As a tool to integrate and control conquered populations.

Why was the Peace of Westphalia (1648) important for citizenship?

It linked citizenship to sovereignty, borders, and nation-states.

What is citizenship as status?

Legal recognition by the state (passport, nationality).

What is citizenship as membership?

Social and political belonging within a community.

Can someone have one without the other?

Yes — legal status without belonging, or belonging without legal status.

What are the three dimensions of citizenship (Marshall, 1950)?

Civil, political, and social rights.

What are civil rights?

Legal rights such as freedom of speech and equality before the law.

What are political rights?

The right to vote and participate in political decision-making.

What are social rights?

Access to welfare, education, and healthcare.

Why do geographers 'de-naturalise' citizenship?

To show it is socially constructed, not natural or fixed.

Why are borders central to citizenship?

They define who belongs inside the state and who is excluded.

What is jus soli?

Citizenship based on place of birth.

What is jus sanguinis?

Citizenship based on parentage or 'bloodline'.

Which citizenship system does the UK mainly use today?

Jus sanguinis.

What did the British Nationality Act 1948 do?

Created separate UK and colonial citizenships and allowed women independent nationality.

What changed with the British Nationality Act 1981?

Birth in the UK alone was no longer sufficient for citizenship.

What is de jure citizenship?

Formal, legal citizenship recognised by the state.

What is de facto citizenship?

Lived experiences of belonging without legal status.

How does the Windrush scandal illustrate this difference?

People lived as citizens but lacked documents and were later excluded.

How can states remove or restrict citizenship?

Through denaturalisation, deportation, or limiting rights.

What power does the UK Nationality and Borders Act (2022) give the state?

To remove citizenship without prior notification in some cases.

Why is citizenship unequal in Israel–Palestine?

Different legal categories grant different rights to Palestinians.

What is meant by settler-colonial citizenship?

Citizenship exists but is structured to privilege settlers over indigenous populations.

How is citizenship defined in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states?

Through jus sanguinis with strong economic benefits but limited political rights.

Why are migrant workers excluded from citizenship in the Gulf?

To maintain political control and elite privilege.

How do states use citizenship strategically?

To manage labour, reward loyalty, and attract skilled workers.

What is regularisation or amnesty?

Granting legal status to undocumented migrants.

What does regularisation show about citizenship?

That it is flexible and politically negotiated.

What is global citizenship?

The idea of rights and responsibilities beyond the nation-state.

Why is global citizenship debated?

Because democracy and rights are still organised through states.

What is insurgent citizenship (Painter & Jeffrey)?

Citizenship practiced through protest and activism outside formal state institutions.

At what scales can citizenship be enacted?

Local, national, and global.

Summarise citizenship in one sentence.

Citizenship defines belonging and rights but is uneven, exclusionary, and politically contested.