CITIZENSHIP AND SOVEREIGNTY AS DEMOCRATIC VALUES OF A STATE IN GLOBAL WORLD

In: Współpraca Europejska: podejście naukowe & zastosowane technologie = European cooperation : scientific approaches and applied technologies, Band 9, Heft 40, S. 7-17

Abstract

This article mainly focuses on determination of sovereignty as the answer to challenges, caused by globalization, migration, and integration. In the modern view, sovereignty is a fundamental state feature, while citizenship is a real and effective political and legal link between person and state. Citizenship is a primary legal aspect of self-identity from the theoretical, legal and philosophical point of view. It should be mentioned that nowadays, there are a lot of discussions on this issue in order to determine possible strong ideological baggage, the set of rights and duties and full membership in a state (features of citizenship) from daily and personal complexity of social interaction (features of self-identity). Undoubtedly, the correct, up-to-date application of person's legal status and identity issues is a fundamental tension in frames of such triangle: person – society – sovereign state. The article explains that such importance depends not only upon the level of legal self-consciousness of a person, geopolitical, social and economic, demographic development of society and state's place on the international arena, but also on active state (governmental) policy in the field of citizenship. Authors pay particular attention to the grounds for terminating the citizenship of a person, as a result of which a person may become "apatride" (a stateless person). In addition, this study is aimed to generalize the common and distinctive features of the main grounds for termination of citizenship of a person, which depends on the will of last one or is foreseen as the state "punishment" for his/her activity. According to the results of this research, the value of citizenship in the modern world is inevitably to become lower. Therefore, in the ideal scenario, it is necessary to upgrade the citizenship concept, to proceed with real, proper and useful, but not cosmetic changes. In addition, there is a need to allow drifting on the citizenship front to secure values and shared symbols of citizenship in the sovereign state.