Citizenship, Inclusion, And Exclusion: A Discussion

Does citizenship, as a concept and a set of practices, promote inclusion or exclusion? Draw on examples to illustrate your ideas and arguments.

Types of Citizenship

Citizenship is the status of an individual and it helps to recognize the existence of the individual. Citizenship is one of the fundamental rights of an individual. According to this concept, there are certain kinds of citizenship present in the globe such as citizen by birth, citizenship based on birthplace, citizenship by marriage, naturalization and excluded categories. The idea has, for the first time, introduced in Greece where certain political classes get the right of citizenship and enjoyed certain facilities regarding their respective posts. Based on the nature of citizenship, the category of inclusion or exclusion citizenship can be defined. When an individual become the citizen of a country by birth, he becomes inclusion citizen of that country. The same principle has been applied in the case of citizenship based on birthplace and citizenship by marriage. However, apart from the inclusion category, there are certain other categories like exclusion citizenship. Certain classes have denied incorporating as a citizen and they are barred to call as a citizen. They could not enjoy all the rights of a citizen. Indigenous people, slave and refugees are certain instances of the term exclusion category.  In this essay, a brief discussion regarding the citizenship and inclusion-exclusion nature of the citizenship has been discussed. Further, the point has been discussed from the perspective of the theory of indigenous and citizenship to understand the scope and application of the exclusion clause in citizenship.

Citizenship helps to identify the custom of an individual and rectifies his status and nation he belongs. Under the English International Law, citizenship is considered similar to that of nationality. The idea of citizenship comes from the ancient Greece where certain social groups had enjoyed the rights of citizenship and the rights had not given to every individual of the state. The modern definition of modern citizenship has been come from the theory of T.H. Marshall. In his book, he had divided the term citizenship in certain parts such as civil citizenship, political citizenship and social citizenship. According to him, civil citizenship gives an opportunity to enjoy certain freedom and rights over the property. Political right enables the individual voting rights to the citizen and social citizenship helps to create a modicum of economic welfare and an opportunity to being a part of civilized society. Considering the application of modern citizenship, it can be stated that the whole idea is based on the principle of equality of status. Citizenship helps to recognize the status of a person and confers certain rights on them so that they lead their life in a systematic manner. Therefore, it can be stated that citizenship is an inevitable right of the human being. However, there are certain categories within the word citizenship. The categories are inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion theory helps the individual to get all the opportunities and rights as a part of the society. further, there are certain categories who are deprived of the rights of citizenship. In Australia, the refugees and the indigenous people are excused from the rights and opportunities. This establishes the theory of exclusion principle of citizenship.

The rights and obligations of citizenship

There are certain rights and obligations engraved under the concept of citizenship. The word rights could be discussed from the perspective of liberal thought. From the point of classical liberalism, a citizen should get the rights of political and civil rights. Oldfield (2015) opines that citizenship protects the citizen so that they can exercise their rights liberally and ensure an unhindered interest for the individual. However, the definition of the rights is required to be demonstrated and there should be no place for negative freedom. For an instance, it can be stated that others should not rape the women. Further, citizenship helps to provide freedom of property and social security to the people. There are certain positive rights lied in the idea of citizen. According to Marshall, social rights are quite promising in this case and the rights of welfare have been secured through this concept. Social rights have promised social rights concentrates on the socio-economic wellbeing of the country and the individual and therefore, health, education and social dignity. A de-commoditization of labor can be established through social rights of citizenship. Considering the effects of applicability of rights of the citizenship, it can be stated that one right depends on the other and political, civil and social rights are indivisible in nature. However, according to Plant, in citizenship, there are the existence of both the positive and the negative rights. In the words of Ferguson (2018), it is important to understand the importance of all these rights in the society and the outcomes of these rights on the human being. An individual who is getting the rights of citizenship by birth can enjoy all the rights and the nature of these rights of them is inclusive. On the other hands, there are certain classes in Australia, who are deprived from all these rights and the concept of citizenship does not applicable to them. in this case, the concept of exclusion will be applied on them.

The concept of social inclusion and exclusion are familiar to each other. The emergence of social exclusion has developed in the year 1970. It resembles the unprotected classes of the society. Not all the rights of the citizenship are imposed on them and no assurance has been made regarding their social security or other protection. In the era of stagflation, many people in Australia had been excluded from the mainstream of the society. They were deprived of all the citizenship rights and an initiative has been taken by Mike Rann in 2002 to establish a social inclusion. This initiative is known as the reply against the social exclusion theory. The Labor Government has promoted certain social inclusion agenda in the year 2007 and they had taken serious steps regarding the matter. Certain steps have taken for the indigenous people and they have taken a national statement on social inclusion. The main purpose behind it is to make Australia a strong nation. According to the French concept, social exclusion is the termination of social bonding and lack of national solidarity. This concept has helped to make a consolidated definition of exclusion theory. According to this theory, no one is allowed to make his or her own preferences and choice. This theory provokes the concept of discrimination and deprives a certain group of people from the benefit of rights of citizenship. According to Saunder, social exclusion refers to lack of opportunities to take part in the socio-economic and political life and therefore, the individuals are depriving of their fundamental rights. The problem of social exclusion can be eradicated by tackling the matters through cross-departmental approaches. Certain steps have been taken by the social inclusion theory by establishing economic marginality for the disadvantaged groups of the society and an income-based measurement should be taken into consideration. British sociologist Peter Townshend had generalized the idea of deprived class as the poverty. According to him, an identification regarding the socially deprived people should be made and their problems should be resolved with wide perspective.

Inclusion and exclusion theory of citizenship

However, certain criticisms have been made regarding the definition of the social exclusion theory. According to the ideology of Silver (2015), the theory of exclusion is a vague concept and there is no specific definition regarding the social exclusion theory. He has considered the term as evocative and multidimensional expression. The pragmatic concept regarding the social exclusion theory has made the application of the theory vague and therefore, it is quite tough to identify the proper application of social exclusion in citizenship. According to Madanipour (2015), different forms of social exclusions are inevitable to the social relationship and it makes boundaries between the spatial and temporal domains. Further, the access right of the individual has been controlled under this exclusion theory. Further, in the words of Littlewood (2017), social inclusion has certain problems and paradigms that are required to be resolved. It produces explicit intention among the people and deprivation regarding the common interest can be seen. He had explained the term as social phenomenon. Bradford (2014) has opined that unemployment and refugee rehabilitation process had provoked the application of social exclusion in the society and therefore, it is required to resolve on urgent basis and every individual should get the rights of citizenship to avoid all these problems. He has concentrated on the procedural justice theory and tried to impose certain duties on the police to establish the principle of fairness. He has tried to identify certain positive social methods by establishing social inclusion theory to avoid the dark sides of the non-application of citizenship. On the other hand, a different view has been taken by Dobrowolsky (2016) to secure the rights of citizenship for the women and the indigenous person. He points out certain discriminating facts as against the women and the indigenous people.

A contemporary theory is required to be adopted to identify the discriminating policies of the government for not giving citizenship rights to the indigenous people in Australia. Considering various phrases of Australian history, it can be stated that no intention has been observed in between the government to provide citizenship rights to the indigenous people and this has created discrimination among the society and the principle of social exclusion theory has been applied on them. According to various documents, it can be established that the aboriginals have to face many dilemmas and they are restrained from claiming property rights. The rate of incarceration is higher among the aboriginals in Australia and they are getting deprived from all the rights enjoying by the other Australian citizen. The application of egalitarian political theory has provoked the social exclusion theory and no try has been made by the government to establish the universal human rights. An investigation regarding the issue has been made by the Ivison, Patton and Sanders (2015) and according to them, the most important fact is that the claim made by the individuals and other social group has been made by the Australian government and this excluded the rights of the individuals. The Australian government has taken certain policies in this regard recently. The rights of the aboriginals over the property have been established through the Mabo Case and this has made a strong protestation regarding the illegal acquisition of the properties occupied by the aboriginals. This case has able to establish the rights of the aboriginals to certain extent. Further, it has been observed that the government and non-profitable organizations for the easy settlements of the aboriginals have taken certain positive steps. They are engaging in certain works and an attempt has been taken to settle them in the urban area. Certain fundamental rights have been given to them so that they can lead their life with all the essential amenities.

Considering the facts and situation of this essay, it can be stated that the main aim of citizenship should based on the theory of social inclusion. However, to certain extent, this could not be possible. From various sources mentioned above it has been understood that certain social groups are discriminated from the rights of citizenship. Not all the fundamental rights are promised to them and they could not even enjoy the primary rights. All these mentalities have proved the dark side of the social exclusion theory. According to the principle of Universal Human Rights, everyone has the rights to get the fundamental rights and they should treat equally. However, the real figure is quite different from this fact and therefore, a thorough change is required in this case. Special concentration should be given to the women and the rights of the indigenous class. The government should take every possible step to provide citizenship rights to them. 

References:

Bloom, T., Abizadeh, A., Abizadeh, A., Ada Cheng, S.J., Agamben, G., Heller-Roazzen, D., Akerlof, G.A., Kranton, R.E., Al Barazi, Z., Tucker, J. and Bloom, T., 2018. More Labels, Fewer Refugees: Remaking the Refugee Label in an Era of Globalization. In Noncitizenism: Recognising Noncitizen Capabilities in a World of Citizens (Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 1-9). New York: University of Nebraska Press.

Bradford, B., 2014. Policing and social identity: Procedural justice, inclusion and cooperation between police and public. Policing and society, 24(1), pp.22-43.

Dobrowolsky, A., 2016. Women, migration and citizenship: making local, national and transnational connections. Routledge.

Ferguson, K., 2018. Nancy J. Hirschmann and Beth Linker, eds., Civil Disabilities: Citizenship, Membership, and Belonging. PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICS, 16(1), pp.217-217.

Henn, M. and Oldfield, B., 2015. Resolving uneven generational patterns of citizenship and electoral participation–the impact of institutional changes on youth citizenship, political participation and voting in Britain.

House, S.M., 2016. What’s Love Got to Do with It? An Analysis of ‘Rights Talk’and the Social Citizenship of Welfare Recipients. Reconfiguring Citizenship: Social Exclusion and Diversity Within Inclusive Citizenship Practices, p.167.

Littlewood, P., Glorieux, I. and Jönsson, I., 2017. Social exclusion in Europe: problems and paradigms. Taylor & Francis.

Madanipour, A., 2015. Social exclusion and space. In The city reader (pp. 237-245). Routledge.  

Sartori, G., 2016. THE THEORY OF DENTOCRACY REVISITED. Democracy: A Reader, p.192.

Shanas, E., Townsend, P., Wedderburn, D., Friis, H.K., Milhoj, P. and Stehouwer, J., 2017. Old people in three industrial societies. Routledge.

Silver, H., 2015. Social exclusion. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd