Introduction to Civics and Ethical Studies 2016/201

CHAPTER ONE

THE NATURE OF CITIZENSHIP

1.1 Overview of Citizenship Study: The Evolution of Normative and Empirical Field
Development of the Idea of Citizenship

The lesson is focuses on the historical evolution of citizenship from the Greek civilization to the
present states citizenship. The origin of citizenship trace back to the Greek city-states of Athens and
Sparta. The citizenship passed through different historical stages. Thus people have had different
understanding and reaction during this interval.
Both Athens and Sparta were proud of the citizens’ commitment to civic duties. And initially not all
members of both city-states were provided with equal rights.
The origin of democracy and concept of citizenship was from Greek City-state. The society in Greek
City-states was divided in to three social classes or groups. Namely
1. Citizens:- were free to participate directly in public affairs and decision making processes. They
had the freedom to debate and make political speeches. They also had the right to elect or be
elected to public offices of the city-states. They also enjoyed the right to own private property
including slaves.

Plebeians:-were free member of the

society. They, however, did not enjoy
political rights like the citizens. They
constituted the lower classes of the
society. In simple term, they were free
laborers who owned little property and

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depend on their labor for earning their

living
2. Slaves:-were not free members of the society and had no rights whosever. They were rather held
as the properties of their owners, who could use them, in any way they wished.

So the origin Greek city –states citizenship was discriminatory. However, the degree of the right of these
three social classes varies from city to city.

In ancient state people and state had weak relationship. The people needed little protection from the state
and the state gained little from the people. But as society developed and population increased people
needed more protection from the state and this consolidated the relation between state and the people.

This link between individuals and the state is called citizenship. But as capitalism developed over
Feudalism, people needed more protection of their property, their rights, privileges, the duties of citizens
increased.

Definition of Citizenship
Citizenship is one of the most difficult to define. Because there is no agreement on the definition
of this term that means different writers, social scientists, authors of different disciplines were
defined it differently from country to country and time to time.

Some of definitions were give politically, sociologically, culturally, and even in relation between
the two. However, the concepts of citizenship are neither pure pure sociological nor political
legal dimensions.

 Etymologically, the term citizenship comes from the Latin word which called “Civitas” which
means a member of a state or a citizen in city-state. In this context, citizenship is full
membership of a given state.

Let us see some definitions of citizenship given by different scholars:

 Aristotle:- as to him, citizenship is the privileged status of the ruling group of the city-
state. In his book “Politics” he held the view that man is “political animal”. For him,
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citizen is a man who enjoys the right of sharing deliberative office. All citizens who are
share in the civic life of ruling and being ruled. A one who rule city-state is those have
special ability, character, rationality, wisdom, knowledge---etc which are not found in all
citizens. For Aristotle there are people who are slave by nature, those are being ruled by
virtuous citizens.
 According to Barbalet, citizenship is the nature of political bond .It depends on how fast
bond is.
 T.H. Marshal says that citizenship is the status attached to full membership of a
community and those who possess this status are equal with respect to the right and duties
associated with it. The rights and duties are not universal to country to country.
 Bryan S.Turner in his book “equality” conceptualized citizenship especially modern
citizenship in terms of three major dimensions. They are:
i/ Civil citizenship:-equality before the law which includes the right to liberty, property ,
free speech etc.
ii/ Political citizenship:- access to popular institutions i,e political right to hold public
office.
iii / Social citizenship:-which involves a guarantee of basic economic and social well-fare
 According to Heater citizenship:-is a means of differentiating between inhabitants of a
state.
 In modern democratic state
Citizenship:-is the capacity of to participate in exercise of political power three legal
processes.
 Finally, Osler and Starkey conceptualized citizenship as;
i/ Citizenship as a status:- all most all inhabitants of the world are legally citizens of a
given state regardless of political regime(democratic or not) and demography(large
population like China and India or small population like Vatican) . Nationals of the state
are citizen with an internationally accepted legal status that given them some rights with
duties.
ii/ Citizenship as a feeling:- citizenship is a feeling of belonging to a community of
political system .But the degree of feeling is vary from person to person. Government,
community and media may promote feeling of national identity through national holiday,
sporting events jubilees, parades and public services broadcast.
Iii/ Citizenship as a practice:- citizenship refers to an awareness of oneself as citizens or
individuals living in relationship with others freely participating in social, economic
political etc in practical manner. As this concept, one to be considered as citizenship has
able to exercise human rights and democratic rights or be able to participate in social
affairs in sufficient manner.

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1.2Foundation of citizenship:Philosophical Discourses

Accordingly one can identify at least five categories of citizenship in the Federal Democratic Republic
Ethiopia Constitution: political citizenship, economic and developmental citizenship, social citizenship,
cultural citizenship, environmental citizenship.

Activity: 1

1. Can you explain the duties of citizens that are associated or correlated with cultural
rights?

1.2.1.Political citizenship involves the reciprocal relations ship of rights and duties which are established
among citizens and between citizens and states with regard to the political affairs or domains of the
country.

In this regard, for instance, Article 38 stipulated that every citizen has the right to vote and to be elected.
Here the obligation of the state is to ensure peace and order, and thus the state is not expected to intervene
in the election process.

Example: -the right to vote and to be elected, electing political representative (nominating political
candidates), creating new laws, opposional rights, protest and demonstration right, free access to
government information,

Activity:2

1. Can you explain the duties of citizens that are associated or correlated with cultural
rights?
1.2.2 Social and Economic Citizenship

Another dimension of citizenship is Economic and social citizenship. The whole notion of
economic and social citizenship has been captured by the following provisions as revealed in
Article 41 from sub articles one to eight.

1. Every Ethiopian has the right to engage freely in economic activities and to pursue a livelihood of
his choice anywhere within the national territory.

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2. Every Ethiopian has the right to choose his or her means of livelihood, occupation and profession.
3. Every Ethiopian national has the right to equal access to publicly funded social services.
4. The state has the obligation to allocate ever increasing resources to provide to public health,
education and other social services.
5. The state shall, within available means, allocate resources to provide rehabilitation and assistance
to the physically and mentally disabled, aged, and to children who are left without parents or
guardians.
6. The state shall pursue policies which aim to expand job opportunities for the unemployed and the
poor and shall accordingly undertake programs and public works and projects.
1.2 .3.Cultural citizenship
Cultural citizenship implies the rights and responsibilities established among cultural groups and
individuals and state. One of the cultural rights, for instance is related to the equality of language. In this
regard, Article 5 proclaimed that all languages shall enjoy equal state recognition.

F As stipulated in Article 39 (2) every nation nationality and people in Ethiopia has the
right to speak, to write, and develop its own language; to express, to develop and to
promote its culture; and to preserve its history.

As indicated in Article 41(9) the state has the responsibility to protect and preserve historical, cultural
legacies, and to contribute to the promotion of the arts and sports.

Activity:3

1. Dear learner: all the above provisions aim at improving the economic and social
conditions of citizens. Do you think the obligation to fulfill and realize such goals
falls on the state only? What are the expected duties of citizens in this regard?

4. Another important dimension of citizenship is developmental citizenship. This notion of

citizenship has been reflected in Article 43 of the constitution. The following are the main
provisions:

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1. The people of Ethiopia as a whole, and each Nation, Nationalities and People in Ethiopia have the
right to improved living standards and to sustainable development.
2. Nationals (citizens) have the right to participate in the national development and, in particular, to
be consulted with respect to policies and projects affecting their community.
3. All international agreements and relations concluded, established….shall protect and ensure
Ethiopia’s right to sustainable development.
4. The basic aim of development activities shall be to enhance the capacity of citizens for
development and to meet their basic needs.
Dear learner, what do you think is the duty of citizens? You know poverty and under development
undermine the freedom of citizens to live a descent life-free from hunger, malnutrition and diseases. So,
citizens have an obligation to become hard working and industriousness. It is when the efforts and
citizens are combined that citizen can won economic freedoms-or freedom from poverty. So,
developmental citizenship shares obligations and burdens fairly among citizens, between citizens and the
state.

What do you think will be the role of civil societies and international donor organization in ensuring
sustainable development? You know fighting poverty and hunger has becoming the responsibilities of all
actors at each level of human association. The family, the community, the local government, the federal
government and the international organizations has moral obligations to eradicate poverty from the scene
of the world.

Developmental right presupposes the, among other things, solidarity and cooperation among all actors
concerned from the local to international level.

5. The Last, but not the least category of citizenship is what is referred as environmental citizenship.
Article 44 of the constitutions provides that:

1. All persons have the right to a clean and healthy environment

2. All persons who have been displaced or whose livelihoods have been adversely affected as result
of state programme have the right to compensation, including relocation with adequate state
assistance.

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As indicated in sub article one, citizens have rights to live in a healthy environment. Such notion of
citizenship is similar to developmental rights in sense that the realization of it requires all concerned
bodies starting from each individual citizen to international organizations or international communities

1.2.4 Citizenship as an Identity and Difference

Citizenship is a mode of person’s identification with a particular state or states. Every
states has Citizens or permanent and legal inhabitants who are under the jurisdiction of
the state. Moreover, Citizenship is an instrument of identification .This means; it is a
way or a mode by which citizens of a state can be distinguished from citizens of other
states. This is done when state enact/make laws related to citizenship within their
respective municipal/national law

1.2.5 Duties and Citizenship :Toward an Appraisal

In any nation, as the government has the duty of protecting and creating
favorable situations for the continued existence and development of the
country, the citizens also have certain duties that they should bear.
A citizen is responsible to follow up and know what is going in the with
respect to political, social, economic activities. The other duty of a citizen is to
take part in the political, social, economic activities. Citizens should be active
in all activities. He/she should not be passive. When he or she is active
participating in these areas, he/she would contribute to the betterment of her/his
society. He/she can rectify wrong actions and promote the activities that are
deemed relevant for the good of society.

The third duty is to be able to respect the rights of other people. He/she should
accept that other people like him/her have the rights to live and work, to
develop and cherish their own language, culture, belief and thus appreciate and
help others to gain equal status in all aspect

Fourthly, a citizen is expected to preserve and promote various institutions like

family, economic, social etc institutions b/se they are basic and uphold the
nation and that could help the country development. I n addition, , a citizen is
responsible to protect his or her country from any kind of threat or attack. For
example, if the nation faces territorial aggression, all citizens should stand
together to defeat the aggression. Also, a citizen has a duty in times of
adversity. For example in time of country faces crisis by keeping military
secrets, helping the national defense forces by giving information and
materials supplies etc.

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Finally, citizens have the duty to preserve historic heritages. This includes historic
places, churches, mosques, historical documents, monuments and obelisks etc.
Every citizen is responsible to protect them from thieves and to preserve them from
being destroyed. These heritages are our identities. Again a citizen expected to be
free from addiction of any kinds.

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