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EU Citizenship as a Mental Construct: Reconstruction of Postnational Model of Citizenship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2012

Sanja Ivic
Sanja Ivic
Affiliation:
Institute for European Studies, Trg Nikole Pasica 11, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. Email: aurora1@yubc.net
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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to revise essentialist conceptions of the European Union citizenship and European identity, and make a case for a ‘politics of affinity’. This politics is founded on flexible notion of Union citizenship that accommodates multiple identities. The ‘politics of affinity’ avoids homogenizing assumptions and unitary conceptions of European, national, regional and other identities. It promotes diversity, otherness and fluid character of the postmodern European citizenship. It also advocates a more fluid idea of boundaries. The politics of affinity grounds European politics and citizenship discourse on affinity (not identity). The following lines will reflect on the institutional mechanisms, reforms and policies needed for the implementation of the politics of affinity. This paper will focus on the Treaty of Lisbon, the 2004/38 Citizenship Directive, the 2003 Directive on Long-term Residence Third Country Nationals and some ECJ's rulings in the new millennium.

Type
Citizenship, Bureaucracy and Entrepreneurship
Information
European Review , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , 02 May 2012 , pp. 419 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2012

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References

Notes and References

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