Ebook: Citizenship in Contemporary Europe

This book seeks to analyse the impact of globalisation, European integration, mass migration, changing patterns of political participation and welfare state provision upon citizenship in Europe. Uniting theory with empirical examples, the central theme of the book is that how we view such changes is dependent upon how we view citizenship theoretically.

The authors analyse the three main theoretical approaches to citizenship: [1] classical positions (liberal, communitarian, and republican), primarily concerned with questions of rights and responsibilities; [2] multiculturalist and feminist theories, concerned with the question of difference; and [3] postnational or cosmopolitan theories which emphasise how citizen rights and behaviours are increasingly located beyond the nation state.

Using these theoretical perspectives, the second section of the book assesses four key social, economic and political developments which pose challenges for citizenship in Europe: migration, political participation, the welfare state and European integration. These, it is argued, represent the most significant challenges to and for citizenship in contemporary Europe.

Key Features

• Emphasises the importance of theories of citizenship in the analysis of key issues affecting contemporary Europe
• Offers a clear, accessible introduction to key themes and debates in citizenship theory
• Combines a broad theoretical and empirical focus
• Includes primary material in the empirical sections, contributing new ideas to the understanding of key issues in European politics