Citizenship and State Power Legitimacy

Understanding Citizenship

Dimensions of Citizenship

Citizenship defines the relationship between citizens and the state. It expresses the defining characteristics of membership in the political community, involving rights (which the state must recognize, guarantee, and protect) and duties of citizens.

Cultural Identity and Citizenship

Cultural identity offers individuals a way to be recognized as belonging to that culture. The cultural dimension views citizens as members of differentiated groups within a state, raising the issue of minority rights.

Integrating Political and Cultural Aspects

The union of political and cultural aspects must maintain this distinction, as it is essential for a thorough comprehension of the modern democratic state of law.

Subjects vs. Citizens

• In a totalitarian and dictatorial state, individuals are subjects, subject to anti-democratic law and the powers of the state.
• In a democratic state of law, individuals are citizens, governed by state laws. These laws are adopted and legitimized by the people themselves, and the state is established by a covenant or contract among its members.

Defining Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism refers to the demands for equal respect arising from distinct cultures effectively developed within a single institutional framework.

Legitimate State Power

The Modern State's Authority

The state in the modern world:

• It has the monopoly of power through force and violence.
• It has the power to regulate the behavior of its members through rules and to enforce those standards.
• For this power to be accepted, members of society need to be convinced that the laws are fair and seek the good of society as a whole, and that they recognize the legitimacy of the authorities.

This position is greatly complicated in today's democratic societies.

Most laws from the party in power are criticized by the opposition party. Sometimes, critics go so far as to call the laws unjust. In current societies, the media are not always independent.

Criteria for Legitimate Power

Therefore, the criteria for legitimacy in the exercise of political power:

• Is not solely based on granting citizenship.
• The laws of that government must be fair.

Laws are just when approved in parliament, when they align with the constitution governing the country, and when the constitution is consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.