Liberalization and Community Ties

Abstract

The post-war period (Tony Judt) of citizenship, which was overshadowed by expulsions, decolonization, and the ideological division of Europe, embodied a long history of dealing politically with the consequences of war, violence, and discrimination. In the European dictatorships after 1945, integration into the community of class and the state-prescribed ideology remained decisive for political affiliation. By contrast, in Western European society, which became more open under the influence of post-colonial immigration and the sustained boom, citizenship (T. H. Marshall) evolved into the ultimate emblem of a social-welfare state, a state in which on the principles of constitutionally guaranteed and expanding civil rights political affiliation was based on consensus, participation, and consumerism. These two polar concepts of citizenship were overcome and politically overlaid by a new human rights policy that established the protection of civil rights beyond the state and contributed to the 1989 political transformation of Europe.