Citizenship as A Form of Exclusion: European Citizenship, Migrants and Minorities

This study is a modest theoretical attempt dealing with the European notion of citizenship to uncover some of its enduring inconsistencies. Mainly to identify its exclusionary nature in respect to migrants and minorities within Europe and questioning its characteristics in reference to the liberal political theory. To put things into perspective, citizenship and the nation-state paradigm will be examined. Then possibilities of transcending European citizenship beyond its nationalistic character to a new post-national notion one will be discussed. In doing so, some elements of the critical perspective on citizenship and political community will be positioned vis-à-vis the mainstream liberalist approach, which underpins the paradoxical traits of the modern European citizenship. The study attempts to uncover some root causes of the exclusionary European notion of citizenship through examining the position of migrants and minorities within Europe utilizing a form of critical approach backed by a modest amount of secondary date.