Concept of Citizenship in Globalized Economy in the UK - Report Example

Concept of Citizenship in Globalized Economy in UK Globalization refers to integration and interrelationship between organizes and reorganizes families, societies, nation states and communities (Levinson & Taylor, 2008). It influences the patterns of local social change considering that each nation has a diverse share of power distribution across the globe. Globalization has economic, political, social-cultural and technological dimensions. On the other hand, citizenship refers to status of a person recognized by the law of the land that bestows that person the rights and duties to vote, live, work and own property in that land and grants legal protection (Song, 2007). Citizenship determines the individuals’ responsibilities to obey the laws and pay taxes as well as take part in the military. It symbolizes the membership of a uniform political body and unites people of different genetic background. Globalization is related to citizenship due to constant movement of people in and out of a given country (Morgan, 2011). In UK, there has been constant migration and immigration of people that has resulted progressively multifaceted relationship of citizens and nation state. This study examines the impact of globalization on citizenship. Globalization has undermined the meaning of citizenship by limiting individuals’ responsibilities to their nation and the rights and privileges that an individual can enjoy in their nation. Citizenship bestows particular responsibilities to the respective nation in a variety of settings (Giddens, 998). For example, it gives the respective nation a duty to provide diplomatic protection to nationals, receive it nationals, responsibility of one state to another for trespasses caused its citizens to that other state, exercise criminal jurisdiction, decline to extradite its nationals to another nation demanding submission and determine the enemy status of a person during the time of adversity based as determined by the nationality of that person. Citizenship establishes a distinction between nationalities of various nations and the distinction between states based on the rights each state accords its nationals (International Monetary Fund, 2000). Citizenship can be examined in three dimensions that include the legal status as determined by social, civil and political rights. In this case a citizen is perceived as a legal person functioning in accordance with the directives of the law and having rights to claim for legal protection (International Monetary Fund, 2000). Also, a citizen is perceived as a member of a political community that delivers a discrete source of identity. In the context of membership citizenship bestows a group of individuals in a particular nation a bundle of rights and privileges, they should enjoy within specific boundaries or nation state. The implication of this connotation is that citizens of a specific nation state have equal opportunities in all social, political and economic aspects of the society (Albrow & Elizabeth, 1990, p. 3). In the political component, a citizen is viewed as an agent with the right to participate in a political institution of the society. In the social context, citizenship denotes the technical legitimate interactions between individuals and the society, and it entails a social connection becomes more pronounced and open ended (Albrow & Elizabeth, 1990, p. 4). It represents an integration in the world with characterized by collapse of social structures. By being a member to specific nation state, a citizen has equal entitlement of all national resources and legal protection. However, the term does not clarify the causes of social, economic and political differences among the members of the same society (Song, 2007). It undermines the concept of citizenship and gives rise to another category of citizenship that is determined by their rights. In the context of citizenship individuals share common culture and knowledge within nation boundaries. However, in the context of globalization there is unprecedented growth and reliance on information technology that has made information accessible beyond the borders of an individual nation. The use of internet and social media such as Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, etc. have increased dissemination of information across the globe (James, 2014). The sharing of knowledge in a global perspective has broken the traditional barriers where a nation was identified by specific culture and experiences. There is the broad distribution of knowledge across the globe and assimilation of culture to the extent that some communities have almost abandoned their culture and acquired a foreign culture (Morgan, 2011). Globalization has extended the relationship between membership and quality of citizenship by identifying diverse identities of individuals. It gives individuals different identities based various alternatives and nonnation-State structure (Levinson & Taylor, 2008, p. 238). Also, it recognizes citizenship as a position on which political, social and economic rights and responsibilities are linked. For instance, the political rights may include the right to participate in democratic election and representation in autonomous system, social rights such as welfare and legal rights may include travel and mobility (Levinson & Taylor, 2008, p. 242). Globalization has undermined citizenship by offering individuals bundles of right and privileges to choose where they want to live and work, and make decisions in the background of social and economic networks that rotated around national boundaries. That contradicts the notion of citizenship in which the state took care of its nationals and protected them against any form of external influence (Kivisto & Faist, 2007). Nations used to control resources, labour force; information and other aspects of life. Citizenship provided sense of identity and belonging whereby members of a given community were recognized because of their common culture, and protection granted by the state (Albrow & Elizabeth, 1990). However, globalization has posed significant challenges for the nations requiring them to make choices about how they can deal with those challenges. The contemporary globalization stems from the spread of capitalism through internalization of production functions and variations in communication technology (Song, 2007). It has increased interconnectedness of the states that has resulted to increase in flow of people, ideas, goods, and services through modern and traditional channels (Chanda, 2007). Consequently, this has resulted to increasingly complex interconnections of citizen and nation state. Nation states are responsible for establishing laws that define and protect citizens and their individuals’ rights. Only persons who fulfil specific legal requirement of citizenship qualify to a citizen of that nation (Hopkins, 2004, p. 4). In the ancient society individuals portrayed their patriotism to their respective nations by being loyal to the nation’s laws. Similarly, citizens enjoyed all resources and protection of the state. In a globalized economy individuals can freely move from nation to another and establish citizenship in other countries (International Monetary Fund, 2000). The adoption of a common language, laws, education system, etc. has diffused the international culture in across border nations. It is possible for an individual to have dual citizenship so long as they can fulfil domestic laws of a given nation. Therefore, the issue of citizenship has become complicated since foreigners can acquire citizenship in another country and enjoy the rights and protections of that other country (Ingham, 2004). State sovereignty involves an absolute authority over a given state. The sovereign state exercised political control over a limited area within which no other state could exert its influence (Joshi, 2009). The state had a monopoly of power over its nationals and had certain obligations to its citizens of creating equality. There has been a recent shift of pure state sovereignty to human sovereignty where the wellbeing of individuals is considered supreme, and the state has a duty to protect the human sovereignty (Song, 2007). A sovereign state can exercise political, social and economic welfare in agreement with its standards without external pressure. It was the state’s obligation to safeguard the political, social and economic rights of its nationals (Chanda, 2007). However, globalization has influenced the states’ control over its nationals. The conducts of nations to their citizens are under scrutiny of the international community. Also, individuals enjoy rights and privileges from bodies of the international community that were initially granted by the specific nations. Nation-state has come to be known as welfare state a transition from the normative status of the sovereignty. A welfare state entails a range of public policies undertaken by the state to offer social security to the citizens (Morgan, 2011, p. 48). However, the developed democracies have influenced nation’s sovereignty by limiting the policy options that were previously enjoyed by the nations. Integration of economic markets and increased competition pressure in the global market has influenced the strategic operations internally and turned states into risk takers, opening up financial markets and assessing of implications of high labour expenditure on goods and services in the international economy (Hopkins, 2004, p. 5). The economic globalization puts limit on states capacity to determine their own policy outcome through trade and economic amalgamation, competition for workers and financial markets (Ghosh, 2011, p. 156). The increased pressure of competition among the states and multinational corporations nations have engaged strategies to cut cost of labour, reduce taxation and price of goods and services in order to improve efficiency and increase competitiveness of the states in the global economy. Since 1980s UK has engaged in reducing welfare of the state by cutting cost of production to increase competitiveness of the state (Field, 2000). After the 2008 global financial crisis UK has reduced the employment rate significantly, reduced public sector employments and removed Sure Start Centers in order to increase economic efficiency and competitiveness (Chanda, 2007). Nations have increased economic interdependence as many nations engage on comparative advantage to generate resources for their nationals. Countries are producing what they have a competitive advantage to produce and import the rest from other nations (Fine, 2001). Therefore, nations are bound by international policies and have lost pure autonomy over their nationals. Globalization has increased human agency and has undermined centrality of community of citizens due to limited access to the civil, social and economic rights of citizenship in the countries of origin and the autonomy to move across the national boundaries to search for “greener pastures” (Hopkins, 2004, p. 6). For example, the European migrants are widely spread. In 2002, there was an estimated $80 billion remittance from the national migrants (Hopkins, 2004, p. 7). The developed countries have extended aid to the international communities. The increasing domestic aid and international remittances have contributed to the growth of gross domestic products. The transnational workers have benefitted individuals, families and communities of the workers but have also increased social, economic and political consequences to the sending nations (Albrow & Elizabeth, 1990). The issue of migrants has exerted severe pressure on the nations to improve the welfare of the citizens in order to increase satisfaction and reduce the urge to leave relocate to other countries. On the other hand, the remittances increase the nation’s capacity to build institutions that contribute to the improvement of community welfare (Ghosh, 2011, p. 166). There are two characteristics of globalization that have implications for citizenship. Firstly, globalization has resulted to the massive movement of people across nationwide boundaries to live and work in other countries (Field, 2000). This has resulted to issues of national identity and belonging, rights granted to members and polity membership. Secondly, through globalization multinational and transnational organizations that is part of national control (Chanda, 2007). These aspects of globalization contradict with a nation state thus resulting to serious challenges on the issue of rights and privileges granted to citizenship. Due to globalization persons, can move freely and cost effectively from one nation to another (Kochler, 2000). Goods and services are produced and consumed on a global scale rather than in homelands. The flow of capital through computer and telecommunications has increased interconnectedness of persons, ideas, and culture across nations. Through the use of internet and television programs individuals have been able to keep in contact two cultures and interactions of people (Fine, 2001). The interrelationship between cross border communities has undermined the aspect of belongingness and national identity. People are identified as members of the global village rather than nationals of a given state. Developed nations such as US and UK exert their influence on the national governments through international bodies such as International Monetary Funds (IMF) and World Banks especially in developing countries (Field, 2000). The dominance of developed nations in the global economy has undermined the sovereignty of the national governments. The international influence of developed nations on the domestic governments has forced those national governments to strategize themselves to embark on reforms aimed at strengthening domestic institutions and democracies (Hopkins, 2004, p. 4). Globalization has eased the movement of capital and establishment of international institutions that have limited the rights of nations to exploit their resources (Chanda, 2007). That has undermined the extent to which nationals can benefit from the resources of their states that the nation-state is purpose to grant to its citizens. A nation symbolizes a sense of collective identity that integrates community of citizens whose existence legitimates actions of the government both internally and externally (Panitch & Sam, 2012). Internally the nation integrates its citizens while externally it proclaims itself as a historical matter in a global order established by the existence and interactions between diplomatically founded nations (Fine, 2001). Therefore, a nation entails sense of shared identity and history distinguished as a community of citizens as opposed to cultural collectives and historical establishments. When focusing on globalization culture and identity are of essence because they determine the extent to which its falsification of boundaries impacts the unity of community of citizens and consequently authenticity of the nation state (James, 2014, p. 211). Furthermore, they enlighten views of the citizens that are patent in laws determining the affiliation in the polity. Therefore, within the political boundaries of the nation-state the issue of culture and identity that exceeds national boundaries influence individuals and communal knowledge of the community of citizens thus raising the issue of personal belongingness (Field, 2000). The influence of globalization on identity depends on whether the identity is fixed or fluid. In the case of a fixed identity the trans-border relocation of culture, values and person results to fragmentation of the community of citizens and is a mugging of a nation state (Fine, 2001). This will result to attrition of the similarity between the boundaries of the country and the state. On the other hand, globalization will change explicit character of the society’s nationalities in case of fluid and flexible identity (Kivisto & Faist, 2007). However, the nation states can be recognized as more vigorous entity capable of evolving and adjusting. Globalization impacts the quality of politics and public life thus it limits the powers of the nation-state to intervene their own economies. The formation of treaties, General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade and other bilateral agreements have influenced the movement of goods, ideas and people across nations (Bosniak, 2006). Furthermore, the establishment of global institutions has affected the powers exercised by the state over its citizens. In a globalized economy a single nation lacks full control of either its internal or external affairs (Albrow & Elizabeth, 1990). Political, social and economic factors are regulated by different states. International institutions such as World Bank, World Trade Organization (WTO) and IMF operate in more than one nation to solve national crisis and foster economic growth across the nations of the globe (James, 2014, p. 215). The implication of globalization is the undermined authority of nations to control internal affairs and its nationals. Various nations rely on control of the international organizations to achieve domestic goals. Globalization has promoted the integration of citizens and international activities such that business activities link various nations (Morgan, 2011, p. 8). Considering that individual nations have separate laws to govern domestic affairs, business contracts involving nationals of various nations cannot rely on laws of any individual nation. This calls for application of international laws in order to achieve consensus on issues affecting trade between members of separate nations. For example, the International Court of Justice and European Court of Justice are such institution offering solution to disputes involving member of different nationals (Bosniak, 2006). These organizations are applied in situations where borders and national laws are irrelevant and where the “universal principles” are appropriate to settle conflicts within internationals society Juris, 2008, p. 2). The establishment of international laws such as human rights framework sets up new order for global accountability. The human right framework is applicable to citizens within nation-states and undercuts the concept of sovereignty embedded in international law whereby the individual nation was responsible for issues within it territory (Levinson & Taylor, 2008, p. 234). The implication of human right is that an individual nation is no-longer at liberty to treat its nationals as they wish because they are under scrutiny of the international community. “Economic forces constitute the world into one economy and to a lesser extent into a single political society” (James, 2014, p. 219). Nations participate in the global activities based in the powers they possess which predetermine countries rights. It has promoted hegemony of Western culture and corporations thus risking the jobs and communities of the rich countries at risk and exploiting the cheap labour in the third world countries. Globalization has undermined democracy and created social instability by exposing national political organizations to forces of economic change outside their control (Bosniak, 2006). It is a threat to the environment. In addition, the process and effects of globalization are uneven thus it has resulted to concentration and deprivation that constitute a well-defined social structure. The use of satellite surveillance has increased international monitoring of persons beyond an individual state. International crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking, kidnapping, etc. have influenced the application of law and order (Morgan, 2011). What happens in one state is of concern to the international community and not an individual matter. In the case of an international crisis nations are called upon to restore order instead of having the individual nation deal with the menace (Kivisto & Faist, 2007). Economic crisis is issues of the international community as opposed to an individual nation. For example, the 2008 financial crisis affected the entire globe including UK (James, 2014, p. 221). Disease outbreaks such as the recent case of Ebola in some parts of Africa became an issue of concern to global community even in UK since its nationals travel across the globe and are affected by the activities taking place in the international communities. In a globalized economy, the policies of a single nation are of global concern and not for that nation only. For example, the issues of nuclear and environment are of global concern and an individual state cannot enact policies to deal with issues posing a threat to the globe (Song, 2007). The state actors and non-governmental organizations are no longer focusing on domestic issues but matters of international concern. Therefore, globalization has converted world nations into a civil society making individuals accountable to the global community (Song, 2007). Furthermore, international policies are applicable to the global society thus extending individuals rights and privileges from within borders to outside borders. This has distorted the meaning of citizenship in the sense that individuals are accountable to international laws, and their rights and privileges are protected by the international community rather than by a single nation (Huntington, 1993). In conclusion, the concept of globalization and citizenship gives an expression of the extent to which the state exercise control over its nationals. Globalization has undermined citizenship through establishment of an international community that share power in the control of social, political and economic activities of a global community. Individuals are no longer bound to live in a specific place since they can freely acquire citizenship of a nation of their choice or move to any country to live and work there. Multinational organizations have influenced the use of national resources and control the significant resources of the international communities. They are involved in making international policies that have influenced activities of the nations and the service they offer to the community. Therefore, globalization has undermined the meaning of the citizenship that can no longer be defined in a national context without taking into consideration the effects of international culture. Bibliography Albrow, M. & Elizabeth, K. (Eds.) (1990). Globalization, Knowledge, and Society. London: Sage. Pp. 1-8 Bosniak, L. (2006). The Citizen and the Alien. Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership. Oxford: Princeton University Press. Chanda, N. (2007). Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Warriors and Adventurers Shaped Globalization. Yale University Press: New Haven. Field, J. (2000). Social Capital (2nd Ed). London: Routledge, Fine, B. (2001). 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