Citizenship: A Reader

Concepts of citizenship have been central to political discourse in the West throughout history -- but the notion of what it means to be a citizen has been radically modified over the centuries, to suit a variety of political expedients. There is now renewed interest in citizenship as a fundamental principle in Western democracy; but what do we mean when we talk of citizens and their rights?

Citizenship offers more than fifty carefully chosen extracts from the key political debates surrounding citizenship, from Aristotle and Plutarch in Ancient Greece to Raymond Plant and the Maastricht Treaty in the present day, in an invaluable sourcebook of writings on the subject. The selection highlights the variety of ways in which philosophers, activists and theorists have applied the idea of citizenship to particular circumstances and to serve particular ends.

In a substantial introduction, Paul Barry Clarke sets the historical and political context and traces the evolution of the idea of citizenship, providing a springboard for further debate and new thinking on a subject that concerns us all.