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CINEFOGO Conference on ‘European Citizenship’ in June 2007
Lars Josephsen, Editor
Background and overall focus
The CINEFOGO Network of Excellence arranges its Mid-term Conference at Roskilde University (Denmark) the 1st to 3rd of June 2007. The overarching theme of the Conference is 'European
Citizenship - Challenges and Possibilities', - an issue that seems highly relevant for the CINEFOGO Network, whose project subtitle is "the making of European Citizenship".
What is hiding behind the concept of European Citizenship? From a purely legalistic point of view, every person holding a nationality of a member state is a citizen of the Union (cf. box 1). Several other definitions/demarcations of the concept of 'citizenship' can be found in the literature. Some examples are illustrated in 3 other boxes.
The Conference will address the issue of European Citizenship on a broad basis, in accordance with the Network's interest in reflecting on the relationship between civil society and citizenship in Europe and the impact of social movements on democracy, social participation and citizenship for European citizens.
Thus, results and accomplishments from the first 2 years of activities in the Network will be exposed at the conference. By focusing on debate on European Citizenship we want to discuss the possibilities and constrains in further economic, social and political integration in Europe.
Conference themes
The following five themes will be addressed at the conference in plenary lectures, in paper sessions, and in round table discussions:
‘Denationalisation’ of citizenship. Trends towards 'denationalisation' of citizenship are examined, including the idea of cosmopolitan citizenship and identity as background for European citizenship. The importance of national European institutions has declined, but transnational institutions have not replaced them in determining the content and the scope of citizenship.
Organised civil society. The contribution of non-profit institutions in enhancing civic participation and establishing good governance in Europe is assessed, and the role of gender and ethnicity in defining the civic culture in Europe is taken up. As a background document serves the Commission's White paper on European Governance (cf. box 5).
Citizenship – contested and renewed. This theme addresses the changing faces of governance and civic participation on local, national and EU-levels, and their links with issues of rights and participation. How to promote active participation among European citizens at all levels and for all groups of European citizens - across gender, ethnicity, and age?
Public Services in Europe. Public Services in Europe - The provision of public services is key in this theme, and the relations to citizenship and governance, as well as the future role of public services are investigated. Is there a transnational concept of public services that could serve as a cornerstone of a future shared European model?
European Citizenship in a globalised world. European Citizenship in a globalised world. How to bridge the gap between EU citizens and non-EU citizens in promoting an active European Citizenship? What is the range of citizens' crossnational rights in the context of migration - how to ensure these rights?
Plenary lectures and speakers
The plenary lecture structure of the conference, and the plenary speakers and their topics are listed below:
Citizenship and Globalisation – trends towards ‘denationalisation’ of citizenship
- Dr. Klaus Eder, professor, Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany): The relationship between Organised civil society and the constitution of European Citizenship
- Dr. Donatella della Porta, professor, European University Institute, Florence (Italy): The Emergence of European Movements ? Civil Society and the EU
- Dr. Gerard Delanty, professor, University of Liverpool (UK): After the enlargement of the Nation-State: The Legacy of the EU reconsidered
- Dr. Göran Therborn, professor, SCASS and Uppsala University (Sweden): European Citizenship in a Globalised World European Citizenship and Cultural Diversity
- Barbara Einhorn, professor, University of Sussex (UK): European Citizenship or Narrow Nationalisms: Challenge of Gender Equality
- Carl-Ulrik Schierup, professor, University of Linköping (Sweden): Migration, Citizenship and the European Welfare state Organised Civil Society – enhancing civic participation and establishing
Good Governance - Dr. Adalbert Evers, professor, Justus Liebig University, Giessen (Germany): Intertwined - Changes in Citizenship and Changes in the Provision of Social Services
- Dr. Victor Pestoff, professor, Mid-Sweden University (Sweden): Democratic Governance: Co-production, the Third Sector and Citizen participation in the Provision of Social Services
- Dr. Claire Wallace, professor, University of Aberdeen (UK): What makes a good citizen? European perspectives
- Dr. Raimo Blom, University of Tampere (Finland); Annamari Konttinen, University of Turku (Finland); Marrti Siisiäinen, University of Jyväskylä (Finland): Political participation as an Aspect of Good Citizenship: Normative Conceptualizations, Empirical Observations)
For further information please contact Professor Thomas P. Boje, Roskilde University, boje@ruc.dk, or consult the CINEFOGO website, www.cinefogo.org.
Every person holding a nationality of a Member State is a citizen of the Union. A citizenship of the Union was established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. It is included in Part Two (Articles 17–22) of the EC Treaty. The EU citizenship complements national citizenship of the Member States and does not replace it. Citizens of the Union enjoy rights conferred by the Treaty and they are subject to duties imposed thereby.
The importance of citizenship of the Union lies in the fact that the citizens of the Union have genuine rights under Community law. The core rights conferred by citizenship under Part Two of the EC Treaty are:
freedom of movement and the right of residence within the territory of the Member States;
right to vote and stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament and at municipal elections in the Member State of residence;
right to diplomatic and consular protection;
right of petition to the European Parliament; and
right to refer to the Ombudsman.
The concept of citizenship as a status which provides access to rights and powers is associated with T. H. Marshall (1963). Civic rights comprise freedom of speech and equality before the law. Political rights include the right to vote and to organize politically. Socio-economic rights include common welfare and social security.
Source: The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology (1994), Third Ed., p. 54
Box 3: Citizenship: Political and non-political aspects
Citizenship is as old as settled human community. It defines those who are, and who are not, members of a common society. Citizenship is a manifestly political enterprise, yet two general questions arise out of its practice which show that an appreciation of only the political dimension is insufficient for a proper understanding of it.The issue of who can practice citizenship and on what term is not only a matter of the legal scope of citizenship and the formal nature of the rights entailed in it. It is also a matter of the non-political capacties of citizens which derive from the social resources they command and to which they have access. A political system of equal citizenship is in reality less than equal if it is part of a society divided by unequal conditions.
Source: J.M. Barbalet (1988) Citizenship, p. 1
Citizenship may be defined as that set of practices (juridical, political, economic and cultural) which define a person as a competent member of society, and which as a consequence shape the flow of resources to persons and social groups. It is useful to indicate the most important aspects of this definition.
First, it seems to be important to emphasize the idea of practices in order to avoid a state and juridical definition of citizenship as merely a collection of rights and obligations. The word ‘practices’ should help us to understand the dynamic social construction of citizenship which changes historically as a consequence of political struggles. Thus the concept of social practice is intended to pinpoint the idea of citizenship as a genuinely sociological as distinct from a legal or political notion.
Secondly, this definition of citizenship places the concept squarely in the debate about inequality, power differences and social class, because citizenship is inevitably and necessarily bound up with the problem of unequal distribution of resources in society.
Source: Bryan S. Turner (1993) Citizenship and Social Theory, p. 2
Box 5: White paper on European Governance
The White paper on European Governance, was adopted by the European Commission in July 2001. It contains a series of recommendations on how to enhance democracy in Europe and boost the legitimacy of the institutions. The aim is to modernise European public action in order to increase the accountability of European executive bodies to the elected assemblies and open up the Union's decision-making procedures to allow citizens to participate in making decisions which concern them. Promoting new forms of European governance is one of the four strategic priorities which the Commission set itself for its 2000-2004 term of office.Source: The White Paper on European Governance COM (2001) 428 final
The European programme in Civil Society Leadership