Suchergebnisse

This research review highlights the complex, dynamic relationship between citizenship - as membership status - and the constitutional law that provides the cornerstone of all polities. It shows the many different ways in which we must use constitutional law in order to fully understand how one becomes a citizen, and what the meaning of citizenship is. It also analyses the key works which cover national, transnational and international aspects of the topic, providing a particular focus on how constitutional law constructs and upholds the range of citizenship rights. This research review will be a valuable source of reference for students, academics and practitioners interested in citizenship and constitutional law

This book examines the electoral rights granted to those who do not have the nationality of the state in which they reside, within the European Union and its Member States. It looks at the rights of EU citizens to vote and stand in European Parliament elections and local elections wherever they live in the EU, and at cases where Member States of the Union also choose to grant electoral rights to other non-nationals from countries outside the EU. The EU's electoral rights are among the most important rights first granted to EU citizens by the EU Treaties in the 1990s. Putting these rights into their broader context, the book provides important insights into the development of the EU now that the Constitutional Treaty has been rejected in the referendums in France and the Netherlands, and into issues which are still sensitive for national sovereignty such as immigration, nationality and naturalization

This paper explores the complex tapestry of citizenship in the European Union context, and examines how discourses of citizenship illuminate both the nature of European integration and the process of gradual constitutionalisation. The objective is to re-evaluate the role played by citizenship in the evolving processes of Union polity-formation, and the connection between citizenship and the various dynamics of constitution-making. The paper thus has three substantive sections. The first addresses the role of citizenship of the Union, examining the dynamic relationship between this concept, the role of the Court of Justice, and the free movement dynamic of EU law. The second turns to citizenship in the Union, looking at recent political developments under which concepts of citizenship, and democratic membership as a key dimension of citizenship, have been given greater prominence. The third section links together the conclusions of the previous sections, focusing in particular on the relationship between EU citizenship and national citizenship. One key finding of the paper is that there is a tension between citizenship of the Union, as part of the EU's 'old' incremental constitutionalism based on the constitutionalisation of the existing Treaties, and citizenship in the Union, where the possibilities of a 'new' constitutionalism based on renewed constitutional documents have yet to be fully realised.

Abstract:This article explores parallels between the 'shunning' and 'seeking' of membership of the EU in the context of Brexit and stalled enlargement in south-east Europe, via a focus on the partial, fragmentary and contested governance of citizenship. The case studies place Union citizenship into a wider political and socio-economic context, demonstrating its central importance as an enabler of personal freedom. At the same time, they highlight how the denial or removal of Union citizenship can engender individual strategies to recover lost or denied benefits. From the analysis, parallels emerge between Union citizenship and national citizenship; both offer a promise of equality, but a reality of differentiation and inequality. At the same time, by delving deep into the case studies, it proves possible to illuminate the complex and often 'messy' constitutional edifice of the European Union, involving sometimes contradictory processes of Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation affecting citizenship regimes at all levels.