Abstract

I approach the question by taking a cursory look at some of the old and recent cases which bring it to the fore. I also examine the relevance and applicability of existing theoretical apparatus in the tradition of political philosophy. I argue that none of the types of theories in the tradition is really designed with the problem in mind. My thesis is that an adequate approach to the problem requires an adequate account of political community which is lacking in the existing theoretical apparatus. I present an account of political community which I define as an association of persons bound by a common experience and the existence of common problems whose solution requires the use of normative power. From this, I derive an account of a world political community constituted upon the common experience shared by all members of the world population with respect to the common problems of war, famine and distribution of resources. The existence of such problems is necessary and sufficient to justify not only the use of normative power by members to regulate the activities of one another, but also the practice of granting or denying recognition to members of political communities within the world political community to become fellow-citizens in a territorially distinct state. Fellow-citizens, then, are members of a political community recognized as a distinct state on the moral considerations that they need a distinct territorial jurisdiction to solve their common problems and to coordinate their efforts with the world community in finding solutions to the problems facing that community. There is no doubt that recognitions of this type have usually been given on the basis of the political interest of the state granting it. I suggest that there ought to be a moral dimension to it. I then examine the approaches of ethnicists, nationalists, and individualists, and argue that none of them, by itself, will do as an adequate theory of fellow-citizenship. ;This study is on citizenship. More precisely, it is concerned with the problem of membership of states as political communities with distinct territories and external recognition. The question it addresses and for which it seeks an answer is this: "Is there an adequate normative basis for determining fellow-citizenship and for recognition of political communities as territorial legal states?" The relevance of this question and the context of the problem are amply illustrated by the phenomena of separatism, secessionism and irredentism, often accompanied by violence and terrorism, in many parts of the world today