People usually tend to relate more with the events happening within the confines of their country’s boundaries and invariably will wish to act in a manner that makes their lives better (Mullens & Cupper, 2012, p.43). This is aggravated by the fact that people understand that being citizens in that particular country or state, their descendants are bound to grow up in the same places and they therefore make a conscious and concerted effort to make life better for the coming generations. Another critical factor that comes to play when scrutinizing the motivation behind the feeling of belonging when individuals are citizens is the sense of responsibility and self-description.
There is a need for citizens to act in a responsible manner, mindful of the history and the shared goals, beliefs and values that the country or state has held over the years. These components constitute a vital part of chipping in towards the collective efforts among all citizens. Moreover, there are issues that recurrently bind citizens to their country or states and consequently bring a sense of belonging among these citizens. Key among these are national events, cultural events and important national festivities that bind nationals of a country or state together (Watson, 2009, p.39). Every citizen derives greatly a particular sense of belonging from these events and ultimately brings out a more coherent citizen who feels strongly attached to the state that he or she is in.
In addition to this, there is also the role that the education systems plays in creating a sense of belonging among citizens. This comes into play whereby citizens particularly learn interesting and thought provoking lessons about the history of their mother countries and states and this in turns develops an underlying feeling of belonging. In this regard, citizens give the matters affecting their country higher priority and also develop a deeper understanding of the developmental needs of the country (Mullens & Cupper, 2012, p.24). This has the positive effect of inculcating a greater patriotism amongst citizens and ultimately leads to better citizenship.
Interestingly, the definition of citizenship today has changed drastically with what was perceived to be citizenship in the earlier years of the previous century. Key among these changes has been in the way the education system has evolved over the years. The curriculum has intentionally and purposely widened the scope of the content covered at the school level whereby global matters are given an equal measure of emphasis as the matters affecting the citizens at the local level. With this kind of mindset, it has become evident that individuals not only perceive themselves to be citizens of their own countries but also citizens of the wider global arena (Schattle, 2008, p.81). As these students advance academically they therefore do not confine their interests and concerns on only the issues that affect their countries but also feel bound to understand and take action about issues that are happening in other nations that equally need their attention.
Moreover, there has been a paradigm shift on issues of ethics and values and the general aspect of moral responsibility. With the high influx of citizens from cross cultural backgrounds where each individual has a deep grained belief and way of doing things, the issue of appreciating diversity has become paramount in a great deal of countries (Abdi & Shultz, 2008, p.102). This is a core value of citizenship and nations have tried tremendously in creating an atmosphere where citizens from different nationalities can come into foreign lands and enjoy this open mindedness in ideologies, interests, and approaches to addressing issues (Watson, 2009, p.68). Another factor that has equally contributed towards redefining global citizenship is the provision put forward by states when they made it possible for individuals to enjoy citizenship of more than one country simultaneously.
Though this is done with the necessary checks and balances in place, where governments give conditions for dual citizenship, this arrangement has proved to be really useful in incorporating the whole idea of global citizenship in many countries (Algarra, 2010, p.93).
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