Supranational Citizenship

Description

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. -- .

Lynn Dobson lectures in Political Theory and EU/International Politics at the University of Edinburgh -- .

The book makes an original contribution to the treatment of EU democracy and citizenship through close and rigorous theoretical argument. It also suggests how supranational forms of citizenship - such as that of the EU - might inspire rethinking of moral and political agency in other contexts and polities. UACES Best Book Award, Judges comments -- .