What is a Citizen?

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Citizenship is the legal status of a person conferring rights and obligations on them in relation to a state. It can be conferred at birth or acquired through naturalisation (a process of becoming a citizen). In wealthy liberal democratic states citizenship may also bring entitlement to social welfare benefits, voting rights and access to education and healthcare etc.

The word citizen is most often used in the sense of an individual owing allegiance to a state and enjoying the protection of that state, and sharing in the political rights of that state. The terms subject, national and migrant are also sometimes used, although these terms have a different connotation in that they refer to the fact that an individual has the right to claim protection from a state, rather than allegiance to it.

There is considerable debate about the nature of citizenship. Some see it as primarily an end point or reward that enables individuals to claim a variety of rights. Others see it as a means to a cohesive society. This debate has important policy implications. For example, if it is seen as an end point then restrictions on gaining it are likely to be valued, while if it is seen as a means then it is probably desirable to facilitate the broadest possible access to it.

Some thinkers, such as Giorgio Agamben, argue that citizenship is a complex relation, with elements of subjective identity and social relations of reciprocity and responsibility. The idea of a citizenry is closely linked to ideas about the city-states of ancient Greece, while other scholars suggest that it may have a more general basis in human history.

A law is a set of rules that governs an area, usually a geographic one such as a town or country. The word is also used in a broader sense to describe the legal field as a whole, and more specifically to refer to a particular career: Zola wanted to be a lawyer so she studied hard at law school.

Laws are established to keep people safe and secure, for instance by regulating driving behaviour or preventing the sale of weapons. They can also be created to encourage certain values, such as equality or compassion. Laws can be made by a state, a court or a group of people.

The concept of citizenship is highly contentious, and its importance varies between nations. There has been a move to emphasise ‘active citizenship’, in which citizens work towards the improvement of their community through economic participation and public, volunteer and civic activities. In this way it is hoped that they can transform themselves from passive recipients of services to active participants in the life of their society. This approach is reflected in the teaching of citizenship as an academic subject in some countries. The British Home Secretary Teresa May recently suggested that the link between settlement and formal citizenship should be broken, which could have profound implications for the integration of migrants in Britain.