THE CITIZENSHIP IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND AN EVALUATION ABOUT ITS EFFECTS

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze the origins and development of the idea of citizenship in the French Revolution. The phenomenon of citizenship, which will obtain its modern form with the formation of nation-state, was born as part of the French Revolution’s purpose of creating a new people. The process of uniting the pre-revolutionary social classes around the concept of citizenship in post-revolutionary France constitutes the main subject of this study. The primarily argument of the study is that the phenomenon of citizenship was expanded with political and social struggles. The desire to unite and establish a new structure in the context of citizenship against the pre-revolutionary discriminations and privileges is still valid in today. The idea that gave the sovereignty from the theocratic ground to the nation was the result of the French Revolution. However, the idea of citizenship that emphasizes responsibilities and takes the fulfillment of these responsibilities as a precondition to obtain rights is a restrictive consideration of the originally encompassing idea. This result has also brought a series of political practices. The attempts to melt differences in a pot and to subject the individuals to a field surrounded by daily practices in continental Europe have turned into a state-controlled political project around the globe. Underdevelopment of individual expression due to the dependency of civil initiatives the state paves the way to the consideration of citizenship as a passive subject. The passive character of citizenship in the modern era has become more evident. Today, the politics and government are based on the expertise and technocratic initiatives of fewer active citizens.

Keywords

• french revolution
• citizenship
• individiual-state relations
• modern political thought.