A Concept of Citizenship - Essay Example

A concept of citizenship Introduction Citizen and the are in mutual well-balanced relation. Harmonious relations between the citizen and the state are possible in case each party of the relations understands its obligations and responsibilities. Moreover, citizens of every country should be aware of their national obligations and rights and realize the fact that putting their efforts together would result in a common good. What is citizenship? A citizen is an integral participant of the social life.

A political community consists of citizens, whose participation is directed on the state’s welfare. Citizens gain benefits from their nation and thus they have to follow laws and regulations of their country. There are many aspects in the concept of citizenship. On the one hand, citizenship is a benefit, which enables citizens to vote or to receive insurance etc. On the other hand, citizenship is a hard work, which introduces obligatory involuntarily actions, obtruded by the government on its citizens.

  For example, citizens have to pay taxes, work in favor of the country, to get secondary education and many other obligations are invented by the state and must be followed by the citizens. Citizenship is a great responsibility. It is a hard work and every citizen should remember of his daily obligations, dictated to him by the state. There is no welfare of the country without daily obligations completed by the citizens. Thus, it is evident that citizenship is an integral part of the country.

It is a trigger of the state’s functioning. We can summarize that there is no way out from this scope of duties. Nevertheless, it should be noted that not all people living in the state are citizens. That is why they do not have to follow their obligations.  Aliens are people who live in the state, but they are citizens of another country. Still, it is better for the state to preserve the rights of aliens and citizens. Positive mood of people living in the country and their active participation in the social life of the country would be appreciated by the government and be rewarded for sure.

Consequently, every individual should be proud of the right to be a citizen. In order to learn how to be a good citizen, it is necessary to have in your mind the following rules: to remember about duties, showing loyalty and equal treatment to other citizens, to criticize and accept political life of the community and participate in community life improvement. Basically, we can talk about three different levels of citizenship. These are: interaction, monitoring and influencing (Glover, 2002).

On the background of political and social life, every citizen should perform as an individual able to cooperate with other citizens, to evaluate measures taken by the government and to make his personal contribution into welfare of the community and the nation. For example, in the Universities, at schools and at work it is a widely-accepted trend to organize people for a common good. In this case a sense of citizenship is improved and results in citizens’ understanding of the importance of working together.

As we know, “Act locally, think globally” and even the smallest attempt to make a civil contribution would bear fruits. Moreover, in case a citizen is a member of nongovernmental organization, he should be able to solve local problems or different public issues referring to his communicative skills, professional experience, ability to correlate his decision with political concerns of the community and the nation. A set of personal features required for a successful civil position are honesty, trust, sociability, self-reliance.

In case a citizen does not have these features, he is able to develop them with the help of other citizens showing respect to dignity of every person and concentrating on the common good. Of course, it is relevant to have an external support for the citizens. It is on behalf of educational institutions, workplaces, governmental and nongovernmental organization to support, promote and encourage an active civil position of the citizens.   Conclusion It should be noted that living in the state does not mean “just living”.

Every citizen should be striving for an effective cooperation with other citizens in the name of a common good. There is no need to be an active participant of many social organizations, it is better to be a devoted participant of a certain social organization. A common social good is possible in case participants of different social and community organization direct their mutual efforts on labor, donation or other activities directed on the public welfare. Works cited 1.      Glover, Troy D.

"Citizenship and the Production of Public Recreation: Is There an Empirical Relationship?." Journal of Leisure Research 34.2 (2002): 204+.Questia. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. 2.      Painter, Nell Irvin. "Humanity, Scholarship, and Proud Race Citizenship: The Gifts of John Hope Franklin." The Journal of African American History 94.3 (2009): 341+.Questia. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. 3.      Seymore, Malinda L. "The Presidency and the Meaning of Citizenship." Brigham Young University Law Review 2005.4 (2005): 927+. Questia. Web. 10 Sept. 2011.