'Subjects', or 'Citizens of Erewhon'? Law and Non-Law in the Development of a 'British Citizenship'

'Subjects', or 'Citizens of Erewhon'? Law and Non-Law in the Development of a 'British Citizenship'

Introduction

The article talks about the concept of citizenship. It has become one of the key terms of political debate since the 1990s. This importance is due largely to a concept that is evolving due to major economic, social and political of the century. Citizenship can be defined as a legal and political status by which the citizen as an individual acquires certain rights (civil, political, social) and duties (taxes, traditionally military service, loyalty) about a political community, in addition to power to act in the collective life of a state. This ability arises from the democratic principle of popular sovereignty.

Discussion

The citizen (from Spain, UK, France, United States etc.) has a number of rights, recognized in their constitutions, but it also has obligations towards the community. In a democratic state, the citizen is obliged to comply with these obligations as they are approved by the representatives that he has chosen to use one of its main political rights as a citizen, that of suffrage. The condition of citizenship is restricted to people who have this condition. People living in an area of non-citizens are excluded from the rights and duties involved citizen status. Each state has rules governing the way in which an individual acquires the nationality of that state, i.e. the status of citizen.

Today, although the nation state remains the key world political map, there are changes that pose a clear challenge to this type of political organization. In this general context and the specific problems of European integration process European citizenship was born. The right of free movement of persons within the territory of the Community was introduced to the Treaty establishing the EEC, signed in Rome in 1957. This free movement appeared not to be linked to any concept of citizenship, but was closely linked to the performance of an economic activity (paid employment, independent activity or services). Consequently, the right of residence recognized to workers and their families in relation to the right to take a job in another Member State of the EEC (Everson, 2003, pp. 57-83).

While at the Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Paris in 1974 and has raised the need to recognize special rights to nationals of member states of the then European Economic Community, the first occasion on which we can trace in order to transcend a mere common market with the goal of creating a community of citizens. Later, after the European Council held in Fontainebleau (France) in 1984, created a Committee Europe for Citizens, chaired by Italian MEP Adonnino, which passed a series of timid proposals regarding the constitution of a European citizenship.

The Union citizens participated in the political life of the same in the forms provided for in this Agreement, have the rights that they are recognized by the law of the Union conform to the same ...