THE EMANCIPATION OF CITIZENSHIP: FROM LAW TO CONFLICT

Abstract

To this day, we find ourselves tackling the issue of citizenship as a question “embedded within the problem of sovereignty” first raised by Bodin. For obvious reasons, however, the context has radically changed. Most of the factors which have lent shape and substance to this concept are now undergoing a profound transformation. The endpoint of this process is still nowhere in sight. We are experiencing a phase of transition which radically affects two categories, those of time and space, which have always been a focus of reflection on political philosophy. And as in every age of transition, a sense of emptiness and suspension is in the air: the presence of something new which is developing and gradually establishing itself, while the “old” still endures and continues to influence historical and social reality. In facing this phase of transition, a clear awareness emerges: the current global disorder cannot be addressed and resolved by reverting to some kind of Westphalian order. Still, borders remain the space that defines a given territory, preserving the homogeneity of shared space from the intrusion of external/alien elements. To this day, frontiers constitute the line separating outside and inside, where “all political practice is