CITIZENS AND ALIENS:
RETHINKING RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Spring 2010
Host Institution:
Institute for Political Studies, Catholic University of Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal
Contact information:
Horst Mewes
Professor of Political Theory
University of Colorado at Boulder
email: horstmewes [at] yahoo.com
Paulo Zagalo e Melo
Director, Luso-American Foundation
Invited Researcher, Institute of Political Studies, Catholic University of Portugal
email: zagalo-melo [at] post.harvard.edu
Office hours: by appointment, between May 7-15.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
SEMINAR OVERVIEW
For all we may resist such ultimate questions as the meaning of justice and the nature of the good life, what we cannot escape is that we live some answer to these questions – we live some ‘theory’ – all the time.
Michael Sandel, in “Democracy’s Discontent”, 1996
Citizens and Aliens: Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities is part of an international initiative on Citizenship-related studies co-founded by Horst Mewes and Paulo Zagalo e Melo, comprising (1) Citizens and Aliens – a space for sharing knowledge and promote debate on issues of community and membership; (2) Future Citizenship – a venture to promote and facilitate access to citizenship projects internationally; and (3) Future Citizens – a peer-reviewed electronic journal publishing scholarly work on various aspects of citizenship.
Do you know your legal, civil and human rights? Do you know the political boundaries for each of those rights? Do you have any idea how your ties to a political community affect your life? What duties do you have toward your political community? To how many political communities do you belong?
Citizenship is about understanding the rights and responsibilities you have as a member of a political community. The Citizens and Aliens: Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities will focus on understanding the two dimensions of membership in a political community – rights and responsibilities.
Citizens and Aliens: Rethinking Rights and Responsibilitiesdoes not aim at promoting any particular view or policy, but rather at introducing, analyzing and weighing prominent and promising citizenship theories.
Political theory requires intellectual humility. Answers to our political life's most basic questions do not come easily. The Citizens and Aliens seminar provide an opportunity for thinking carefully and seriously about crucial questions of political life such as the nature and form of political community and the rationale and shape of its membership, which shape our lives and even our views of the world. It also aims at developing our critical and methodical analysis of citizenship-related concepts.
Students are strongly encouraged to contact the instructors to express their particular goals and interests within the broad issue of citizenship, and how those fit into their current or future academic or professional plans. Hence, students should approach instructors by e-mail even before the beginning of the course.
Mandatory Readings and Reading Assignments
Section 1 - Friday, May 7, 2010. 6-8 p.m.
A Struggle for Personhood: Rights, Duties, and Citizenship
Section 2 - Saturday, May 8, 2010. 3-5 p.m.
Sorting Out Rights and Duties of Citizenship
Section 3 - Saturday, May 8, 2010. 5:30-7:30 p.m.
The Controversy about rights in America democracy
Section 4 - Friday, May 14, 2010. 6-8 p.m.
The Chicken and the Egg: Citizenship and the Right to Vote
Section 5 - Saturday, May 15, 2010. 3-5 p.m.
Transcending the Nation: Cosmopolitan Citizenship
§ MacCunn, J. (1899). "Cosmopolitan Duties." International Journal of Ethics9(2): 152-168.
Section 6 - Saturday, May 15, 2010. 5:30-7:30 p.m.
‘Glocal’ Citizenship: The Limits of Rights and Community
Background Readings:
Evaluation Requirements:
Citizens and Aliens: Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities is fully taught in English, and all evaluation requirements must be fulfilled also in English.
During the seminar (May 7-15), each student must submit one 250-300 word (equiv. to half-page single spaced) response to each of the two challenges posted on the Citizens and Aliens blog (www.citizensandaliens.org).
Each student will be expected to give a short in-class oral report (no longer than 15 minutes) on one of the readings assigned (see below). Readings may be chosen by students on a first-come first-served basis. In case students have not chosen their reading before May 7, the instructors will assign one during the first session of the seminar.
A 2000-2500 word paper (double spaced, Times New Roman 12) is due June 15, 2010.
The final grade will be a composite of all the evaluation requirements submitted in which every single requisite – blog answers, oral presentation, and final paper – is mandatory.
Students who have not fulfilled all the grading requisites by the deadline will not be graded.
Final papers presented within 3 days after the deadline will get a 2-point penalty in the final grade. Papers presented after those 3 days will not be accepted.
A student may require a ‘special case’ deadline, which will have to be approved by the instructors before the end of the regular deadline.
The final grade is ‘final’ – requests for second chances, revisions, or “melhorias de nota” will not be attended, unless to amend or correct a proven mistake such as having missed a grading requisite entirely or partially.
While the requisites for this seminar may seem somewhat demanding, at the end of the day the average grade level might reflect the payoff for the student’s commitment and hard work.
Horst Mewes
Professor of Political Theory
University of Colorado at Boulder
email: horstmewes [at] yahoo.com
Paulo Zagalo e Melo
Director, Luso-American Foundation
Invited Researcher, Institute of Political Studies, Catholic University of Portugal
email: zagalo-melo [at] post.harvard.edu
Office hours: by appointment, between May 7-15.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
SEMINAR OVERVIEW
For all we may resist such ultimate questions as the meaning of justice and the nature of the good life, what we cannot escape is that we live some answer to these questions – we live some ‘theory’ – all the time.
Michael Sandel, in “Democracy’s Discontent”, 1996
Citizens and Aliens: Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities is part of an international initiative on Citizenship-related studies co-founded by Horst Mewes and Paulo Zagalo e Melo, comprising (1) Citizens and Aliens – a space for sharing knowledge and promote debate on issues of community and membership; (2) Future Citizenship – a venture to promote and facilitate access to citizenship projects internationally; and (3) Future Citizens – a peer-reviewed electronic journal publishing scholarly work on various aspects of citizenship.
Do you know your legal, civil and human rights? Do you know the political boundaries for each of those rights? Do you have any idea how your ties to a political community affect your life? What duties do you have toward your political community? To how many political communities do you belong?
Citizenship is about understanding the rights and responsibilities you have as a member of a political community. The Citizens and Aliens: Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities will focus on understanding the two dimensions of membership in a political community – rights and responsibilities.
Citizens and Aliens: Rethinking Rights and Responsibilitiesdoes not aim at promoting any particular view or policy, but rather at introducing, analyzing and weighing prominent and promising citizenship theories.
Political theory requires intellectual humility. Answers to our political life's most basic questions do not come easily. The Citizens and Aliens seminar provide an opportunity for thinking carefully and seriously about crucial questions of political life such as the nature and form of political community and the rationale and shape of its membership, which shape our lives and even our views of the world. It also aims at developing our critical and methodical analysis of citizenship-related concepts.
Students are strongly encouraged to contact the instructors to express their particular goals and interests within the broad issue of citizenship, and how those fit into their current or future academic or professional plans. Hence, students should approach instructors by e-mail even before the beginning of the course.
Mandatory Readings and Reading Assignments
Section 1 - Friday, May 7, 2010. 6-8 p.m.
A Struggle for Personhood: Rights, Duties, and Citizenship
- Mackenzie, J. S. (1896). "Rights and Duties." International Journal of Ethics6(4): 425-441.
- Bauböck, R. (2006). Migration and citizenship: legal status, rights and political participation. IMISCOE reports. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press: pp. 5-17.
Section 2 - Saturday, May 8, 2010. 3-5 p.m.
Sorting Out Rights and Duties of Citizenship
- Gunsteren, H. R. V. (1988). "Admission to Citizenship." Ethics98(4): 731-741.
- Fleming, M. C. (1997). "The Functionality of Citizenship." Harvard Law Review110(8): 1814-1831.
Section 3 - Saturday, May 8, 2010. 5:30-7:30 p.m.
The Controversy about rights in America democracy
- Sandel, M. J. (1984). “The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self.” Political Theory12(1): 81-96.
- Dworkin, R. (1977). Taking Rights Seriously.” Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Section 4 - Friday, May 14, 2010. 6-8 p.m.
The Chicken and the Egg: Citizenship and the Right to Vote
- Lardy, H. (1997). "Citizenship and the Right to Vote." Oxford Journal of Legal Studies17(1): 75-100.
- Shaw, J. (2003). "Alien Suffrage in the European Union." The Good Society 12.2: 29-32. Project MUSE. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.
Section 5 - Saturday, May 15, 2010. 3-5 p.m.
Transcending the Nation: Cosmopolitan Citizenship
§ MacCunn, J. (1899). "Cosmopolitan Duties." International Journal of Ethics9(2): 152-168.
- Bellamy, R., and D. Castiglione (1998). “Between Cosmopolis and Community: Three Models of Rights and Democracy within the European Union.” In Re-imagining political community : studies in cosmopolitan democracy. Archibugi, D., D. Held, and M. Kohler (Eds.). Stanford, Calif., Stanford University Press : pp. 152-178.
Section 6 - Saturday, May 15, 2010. 5:30-7:30 p.m.
‘Glocal’ Citizenship: The Limits of Rights and Community
- Carens, J. H. (2000). “Multiple Political Memberships, Overlapping National Identities, and the Dimensions of Citizenship”. In Culture, citizenship, and community : a contextual exploration of justice as evenhandedness. Oxford ; New York, Oxford University Press : pp. 161-176.
- Thaa, W. (2001). "Lean Citizenship: The Fading Away of the Political in Transnational Democracy." European Journal of International Relations7(4): 503–23.
Background Readings:
- European Union (2000). "Charter of Fundamental Rights." Official Journal of the European Communities(C 364/1). (22 pages)
- United Nations (1948). “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” G.A. res. 217A (III), U.N. Doc A/810 at 71. Downloaded February 15, 2010 from <http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007/hrphotos/declaration%20_eng.pdf >.
- United Nations (2006). The rights of non-citizens. New York ; Geneva, United Nations: 51 p.
Evaluation Requirements:
Citizens and Aliens: Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities is fully taught in English, and all evaluation requirements must be fulfilled also in English.
During the seminar (May 7-15), each student must submit one 250-300 word (equiv. to half-page single spaced) response to each of the two challenges posted on the Citizens and Aliens blog (www.citizensandaliens.org).
Each student will be expected to give a short in-class oral report (no longer than 15 minutes) on one of the readings assigned (see below). Readings may be chosen by students on a first-come first-served basis. In case students have not chosen their reading before May 7, the instructors will assign one during the first session of the seminar.
A 2000-2500 word paper (double spaced, Times New Roman 12) is due June 15, 2010.
The final grade will be a composite of all the evaluation requirements submitted in which every single requisite – blog answers, oral presentation, and final paper – is mandatory.
Students who have not fulfilled all the grading requisites by the deadline will not be graded.
Final papers presented within 3 days after the deadline will get a 2-point penalty in the final grade. Papers presented after those 3 days will not be accepted.
A student may require a ‘special case’ deadline, which will have to be approved by the instructors before the end of the regular deadline.
The final grade is ‘final’ – requests for second chances, revisions, or “melhorias de nota” will not be attended, unless to amend or correct a proven mistake such as having missed a grading requisite entirely or partially.
While the requisites for this seminar may seem somewhat demanding, at the end of the day the average grade level might reflect the payoff for the student’s commitment and hard work.