Politics of citizenship: Towards an analytical framework

Abstract

In the theory-oriented article, the author discusses the meaning of politics of citizenship. He argues that a broad conception of citizenship may provide an integral framework for studying political contentions over cultural, legal, social and political exclusion and inclusion. He starts out from an identification of four key dimensions of citizenship and defines politics of citizenship as contentious interactions over the institutionalisation and realisation of substantive membership, legal status, rights and participation. This is followed by a review of cultural and global turns within the liberal nation-state model of citizenship, demonstrating that the form and substance of citizenship reflect contextual power relations and political contentions. Following from this observation, he discusses the issues at stake in citizenship politics, with special attention to three interrelated dimensions: politics of recognition for cultural inclusion, politics of redistribution for social justice, and politics of representation for political inclusion. This discussion points to fundamental tensions and strategic dilemmas, but also to points of convergence around affirmative and transformative remedies for injustice.