Buy essay on HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CONTEXT OF THE INTEREST IN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN RECENT DECADES?

Historically, citizenship rights played an important part in the development of democracy. The concept of citizenship was of the utmost importance for ancient Romans, it grew even more important with the emergence of modern nation-states. At the same time, the concept of citizenship and citizenship rights was not a static concept. In stark contrast, it was a dynamic concept which is vulnerable to changes in the course of time. In this respect, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that in recent decades the interest in citizenship rights has started to change. The change of the interest to citizenship rights is marked by the shift toward the development of new, globalized approach to the concept of citizenship and citizenship rights, which is grounded on the development of the universal norms and principles applicable to the concept of citizenship rights and principles.
In actuality, the globalized approach becomes the mainstream trend in the development of citizenship rights. In actuality, the shift toward globalization in regard to the development of the concept of citizenship and citizenship rights has started in the late 1980s, when nation states started to extend the notion of citizenship rights to the international level. What is meant here is the emergence of new international formations, such as the European Union, which actually emerged in Europe and eliminated national frontiers between nation states in Europe (Maas, 2007). The elimination of national frontiers contributed to the change of the concept of citizenship and citizenship interests. In this respect, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that citizenship interests became focused on the implementation of international concepts of citizenship rights. People living in the EU got an opportunity to move freely within the EU and naturally they needed the new citizenship rights which could facilitate their movement throughout Europe and to get access to any part of the EU without any obstacles caused by differences in the citizenship rights.
Hence, the harmonization of international citizenship rights became one of the essential conditions of the development of the EU and one of the major trends in the development of citizenship interests and rights today. The harmonization of citizenship rights implies the development of the development of common legislative ground on the basis of which national legislation systems concerning citizenship and citizenship rights should be balanced and harmonized. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the example of the EU member states, which developed common laws, legal norms and principles defining the concept of citizenship, citizenship rights, and established basic norms and principles of citizenship. In such a way, citizenship has overcome national frontiers and become universal for countries of the EU. Benefits of such harmonization of the national legislation concerning citizenship and citizenship rights are obvious because citizens of the EU can travel throughout the EU without any limitations caused by the difference in citizenship rights and laws. Therefore, citizens living in the EU can be certain that their citizenship rights are fully protected in any part of the EU, regardless of their national citizenship and the country of the EU they are at the moment.
Moreover, this trend to the harmonization of the international legislation concerning citizenship and citizenship rights grows stronger and overcomes national frontiers and frontiers of the EU. In fact, many countries attempt to develop common legal norms grounded on universal norms and principles which define the concept of citizenship and citizenship rights. The development of common, universal legal norms and principles leads to the development of common approach to the concept of citizenship rights and people feel that citizenship rights are similar in different countries of the world. In such a context, the aforementioned changes in citizenship rights are determined by the common trend to the close economic, political and legal integration of countries. The process of globalization contributes to the fast integration and harmonization of legal norms and principles concerning citizenship rights.
Furthermore, specialists (Carens, 2000) lay emphasis on the fact that citizenship rights involve the understanding of basic human rights and liberties, including such fundamental rights as the right to vote, which is crucial for the adequate implementation and exercise of citizenship rights in the contemporary democratic society. Basically, the observation of existing legal norms and protection of basic human rights is an essential condition of the adequate execution and protection of citizenship rights. At the same time, people often need to learn their political rights, their community legal norms and rules, their human rights to be able to exercise their citizenship rights properly.
On the other hand, people often forget about their responsibilities in terms of the concept of citizenship. What is meant here is the fact that citizenship implies responsibilities of people in regard to the society and other citizens. Therefore, people cannot focus on their citizenship rights solely but also they should be aware of their citizenship responsibilities. In this regard, the exercising of existing legal norms and rules is one of the most fundamental responsibilities in terms of the concept of citizenship. The citizenship implies that people are responsible in terms of the legislation of the country which they are citizens of.
Finally, some specialists raise the problem of the immigration and citizenship. In this respect, it is worth mentioning efforts of immigrants from developing countries of the third world to obtain citizenship of well-developed countries (Smith, 2003). In fact, this trend grows stronger in last decades because the gap between developed and developing countries grows wider and standards of living are absolutely different in developed and developing country. In actuality, citizenship rights are often violated in developing countries, whereas, in developed countries, they are fundamental and lay the foundation to the protection of human rights and liberties, because the lack of citizenship makes individuals vulnerable to the violation of their citizenship rights. In such a way, obtaining citizenship of a well-developed country is a sort of guarantee to immigrants from developing countries that their basic rights are protected and, what is more, such citizenship opens the way to new, better standards of living.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that, in last decades, the concept of citizenship and citizenship rights tend to harmonization and development of homogeneous legal norms and principles applicable to citizenship and citizenship rights. In such a situation, citizenship rights become fundamental for the protection of basic human rights of people.

References:
Carens, J. (2000). Culture, Citizenship, and Community: A Contextual Exploration of Justice as Evenhandedness. Oxford University Press.
Maas, Willem (2007). Creating European Citizens. Rowman & Littlefield.
Marshall, T.H. (1950). Citizenship and Social Class and Other Essays. Cambridge University Press.
Smith, Rogers (2003). Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political Membership. Cambridge University Press.
Somers, Margaret (2008). Genealogies of Citizenship: Markets, Statelessness, and the Right to Have Rights. Cambridge University Press.
Turner, Bryan S. (1994). Citizenship and Social Theory. London: Sage.