| European citizenship stands as one of the most interesting developments in the modern history of citizenship. Initially the European integration process was viewed as an essentially economic undertaking. The construction of a European citizenship is now considered to be an essential tool in furthering the integration process and in solidifying and legitimizing the European Union as a political polity. Some of the most important questions to emerge out of the integration of Europe and the construction of a European citizenship include whether citizenship as a concept is now becoming increasingly disengaged from the state and what this means to traditional notions of rights and obligations, identity, ethnicity and nationalism. As European integration progresses and European citizenship becomes more firmly entrenched, what will the implications be for citizens of the Union? What will be the responsibilities of the Union to its citizens? How much will normative conceptions of citizenship change with the development of a European citizenship? This thesis explores the ways in which a shared European identity and culture may possibly underpin the legal, economic and political processes of European integration, specifically through the construction of a legal category of identity construction---citizenship. As this thesis will contend, citizenship itself is becoming a broader based notion, in which equal amounts of attention and significance must be allotted to legal, social and political rights and culturally-based understandings of citizenship. |
