Supranational Citizenship

Offers a new theory of citizenship applicable beyond the nation-state. It brings political and moral philosophy together with current debates in citizenship, European integration, and international relations. Can we conceive of a citizenship that could, in principle, be relevant to a variety of types of political framework? This book, available at last in paperback, offers a coherent and innovative conception of citizenship that is independent of any specific form of political organisation, and discusses topical issues of European Union – democracy and authority, political community and identity, the supranational constitution – in the light of it.Bringing political theory together with debates in international relations and in citizenship studies, the author argues that citizenship should no longer be understood as a status of privilege and belonging. Instead, it is an institutional role, through which persons might exercise their political agency – their capacities to shape the contexts of their lives and promote the freedom and well-being of themselves and others. In advancing this conception of citizenship, Dobson draws on and develops ideas found in the work of the philosopher Alan Gewirth.Supranational citizenship will be principally of interest to researchers in the fields of European integration, international normative theory, political and moral philosophy, and citizenship. Can we conceptualise a kind of citizenship that need not be of a nation-state, but might be of a variety of political frameworks? Bringing together political theory with debates about European integration, international relations and the changing nature of citizenship, this book, available at last in paperback, offers a coherent and innovative theorisation of a citizenship independent of any specific form of political organisation. It relates that conception of citizenship to topical issues of the European Union: democracy and legitimate authority; non-national political community; and the nature of the supranational constitution. The author argues that citizenship should no longer be seen as a status of privileged membership, but instead as an institutional role enabling individuals’ capacities to shape the context of their lives and promote the freedom and well-being of others. In doing so, she draws on and develops ideas found in the work of the philosopher Alan Gewirth.