Citizenship and Globalisation

Citizenship has become a highly contested concept in recent times, not least due to the intensification of the process of globalisation in the second half of the 20th century. This course provides students with a broad theoretical and empirical understanding of the concept of citizenship and the debates and challenges surrounding citizenship in the 21st century. More specifically, this course will: a) provide students with a general understanding of the origins and evolution of the concept of citizenship; b) provide students with a general understanding of different traditional (ie state-based) conceptions of citizenship; c) explore the challenges posed by the processes and forces of globalisation - particularly population flows, multiculturalism and consumer capitalism - to traditional conceptions of citizenship; d) review the recent political and ethical challenges posed by cosmopolitanism - and the human rights discourse - to traditional conceptions of citizenship; e) explore the prospects, benefits and problems of moving towards global citizenship, or beyond citizenship; and f) explore the impact of all these issues on the meaning of Australian citizenship.