Citizenship, Locality and Territory

Abstract

Citizenship is territorial. The idea binds people into particular territories and, in so doing, strengthens both the status of the individual and territorial expressions of power (Smith, 2000; Isin, 2012; Painter, 2002). Citizenship is defined by territory but is also a means of creating political and social attachments to that territory. Thus, Painter and Philo (1995: 111, emphasis added) view citizenship as ‘the construction of an identity, complete with a related package of known rights and obligations, which posits residence in a definable place or (commonly quite sizeable) territory as the basis for the nurturing and preservation of this identity.’ Citizenship originated in the territory of Greek city states of the classical period but it became an important element of state-building as the modern nation-state emerged, providing ‘the social glue and medium that enables citizens to interact on equal terms in the life of the political community’ (Bellamy, 2008: 71). In some states, as Marshall (Marshall, 1950 [1992]) argued, this was through the affirmation of civic, social and political rights; in others practicing duties, such as national service or civic participation, helped create attachments to the territory of the state (Staeheli, 2005). In doing so, national rather than local territories became the container for citizenship (Cresswell, 2009; Marshall, 1950 [1992]). The nation-state also provides the political and legal-judicial apparatus for implementing and supporting the rights and duties of its citizens (Isin and Turner 2007; Isin 2012a)