The Political Dimension and Discursive Grounds of the Global Citizen

Extract ----- Abstract The global citizen is a recognisable element in the discourse of many actors that advocate a form of identification beyond the national level. In this paper, the aim is to analyse the ways the figure of the global citizen is discursively grounded by a selection of international actors, two of which are small and US-based, and two (the World Economic Forum and the World Bank) are high profile elite institutions. It is argued that at the level of discourse, the notion of a ‘global citizen’ represents a point of identification above and beyond the civil sphere. This means that the legitimacy bestowed on this figure is ultimately projected into the institutions advocating it. In terms of discourse the role of the global citizen is linked to the fulfilment of a historical and normative task within a foundational vision of the world. Framed in this way, the global citizen embodies a particular form of subjectivity that develops social legitimacy while being presented as a non-political actor in all the actions accredited to it. This framing is subjected to critical analysis, considering the inherently political dimension of all social identities and the implications that a process of identification has for the subject. Keywords: Political subjectivity, global citizen, discursive grounds, identity ----- Bibliography: Iglesias Ortiz, Angel: The Political Dimension and Discursive Grounds of the Global Citizen, ERIS, 1-2018, pp. 28-47. https://doi.org/10.3224/eris.v5i1.02