Page 196 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

182 Citizenship

protect and further the well - being of the population residing within their
territories that asylum - seekers may legitimately claim to be stateless when
they are in danger of persecution in their homeland. Furthermore, it is
not obvious either that post - national citizenship undermines nationalism.
On the contrary, it may be rather that, as Soysal argues, claims to nation-
ality, cultural distinctiveness, and self - determination that were previously
linked together in nation - states are now disarticulated and re - articulated
as core elements of what it is to be human. As she notes, “ The universal-
istic status of personhood and postnational membership coexist with
assertive national identities and intense ethnic struggles ” (Soysal, 1994 :
159). Nowhere are these dialectics more evident than in the political
institutions of the European Union.

European citizenship

The word “ citizen ” has only recently been used to refer to those who
live and work in the countries making up the European Union. Before

the Maastricht Treaty was ratified in 1993, the main reference was
to “ workers, ” economic cooperation being the chief concern. The lan-
guage of citizenship represents a further step toward a supranational
European state with an explicit focus on political union. The Maastricht
Treaty created citizens of Europe, stating, “ Every citizen holding the
nationality of a member state shall be a citizen of the Union. ” It further
stated that the four fundamental freedoms – of movement of goods,
persons, services, and capital – previously attached to citizenship of a
member state were to be rights of citizens of the Union. They remained
the same as they were before in virtually every other respect, though the
treaty also created some new citizenship rights. The most important are
undoubtedly political rights; those citizens of the Union who are resident
in a member state of which they are not a national now have the right to
vote and stand for election in local elections and for the European

Parliament. Significantly, they still have no rights with regard to national
elections. There are also new rights for all residents of the EU, including
non - citizens, to petition the European Parliament concerning maladmin-
istration of its institutions (Guild, 1996 ). Social rights remain minimal
at the EU level. Previous attempts to standardize benefi ts and rights
for workers across nations are continued in the Maastricht Treaty, but
social rights are extended very little beyond participation in the labor
market. The emphasis on ensuring the free movement of workers
remains and there is no attempt to harmonize national welfare systems
(O ’ Leary, 1995 ).