The Impact of Globalisation on Citizenship

Abstract or Introduction

The following essay sets out to investigate in what ways globalization has transformed citizenship and the issues surrounding it.

The reduction of trading barriers alongside the increasingly advanced technologies has led to a progressively globalized world, which in turn has influenced many areas, including the concepts and practices of citizenship. In practice citizenship is still mostly considered in liberal terms as a set of rights and obligations that accompany specifically defined membership in a nation-state. However, the global flows of information, goods, capital and people are challenging the traditional frameworks of citizenship and changing the way individuals perceive themselves and their place in the world. In addition, citizenship has been transformed in two levels, vertically, between individual citizens and political authorities, as well as horizontally, between citizens. Moreover, transformations can be further observed on both a philosophical and a practical level, which will be investigated in turn.

The essay concludes that there is an increased awareness of the global problems facing contemporary world as well as a notion of the need for an increased responsibility, on both individual and nation-state level. However, the future will show whether the increased interconnections between various groups will lead to greater solidarity or generate new conflicts.