Citizenship and the Constitution

The status of “British subjects”, the relationship between the individual and the State, and the concept of “rights” and “liberties” are relevant to the current political debate about “British identity”, citizenship, “multiculturalism”, a “British Bill of Rights”, and whether there is now a need for a written constitution. This article describes the confused contemporary understanding of what is meant by “British” citizenship and analyses the parallel developments of citizenship and our constitutional arrangements. The Human Rights Act, devolution and Gordon Brown's proposed constitutional renewal are important steps in setting out the ideas and principles that bind us together as a nation. Together with a coherent definition of the rights and obligations of British citizenship, constitutional reform would achieve a stronger sense of what it means to be British today.     

Claiming Citizenship: Marginalised Voices on Identity and Belonging

While the Roma in Finland share history and national myths with the majority population, they have maintained their particular sense of identity. In spite of increasing recognition, manifested in legislation, their socio-economic position is still poor. This article explores the articulation of citizenship, identity and belonging among Finnish Roma. The study is based on conversation-like interviews with Romani activists. Recognising the marginalised position of Finnish Roma, the interviews are seen as a form of claims-making. The overarching narratives which evolve from the material point to a threefold sense of exclusion from full citizenship, entailing a material, symbolic and emotional dimension. While notions of the “good state” constitute a rather dominant and inclusive narrative, exclusionary practices are located in the area between the public and private realm.     

Claiming Kapwa: Filipino Immigrants,Community-Based Organizations,and Community Citizenship in San Francisco

Filipino immigrants and Filipino-serving community-based organizations (CBOs) in San Francisco work to meet community members’ immediate needs. At the same time, it activates political participation for Filipinos to make claims on traditional citizenship from the city agencies under an albeit xenophobic climate. Although city-level legislation marks San Francisco as politically progressive, Filipino community members experience the national anti-immigrant climate in the United States through a lack of services for integration. We argue that immigrants and CBOs develop “community citizenship” that link Filipino immigrants to local state services while engaging in community building activities that affirm the transnational identities of Filipinos as part of their (in)ability to participate politically in San Francisco. Through qualitative interviews from Filipino organizers and CBO staff, we argue that CBOs use Filipino core cultural values to facilitate collective responsibility for community members’ needs that is not only local but also always transnational under contradicting currents of liberal progressivism and neoliberal conservatism in the city and nationally.     

宪法程序与国家权力--美国联邦宪法的启示

美国联邦宪法规定了完备的程序制度,为规范权力、保障人权奠定了坚实的基础。联邦宪法的有限政府原则见之于其繁复的权力运行程序细节中。宪法程序具有权力的正当化功能、规范化功能和形式合理化功能。作为宪政基石的法治,乃是一种以正当程序为主要内容的人们服从规则治理的事业。     

The Prison Boom and the Decline of American Citizenship

The US imprisonment rate increased fivefold in the three decades from 1975 to 2005. Growth in the scale of criminal punishment was linked partly to a more punitive politics that repudiated the goal of rehabilitation, and partly to the collapse of economic opportunity for young unskilled men in inner cities. The growth of the penal system produced extraordinary rates of incarceration among recent cohorts of young black men with little schooling. We can understand the growth of incarceration to produce and erosion of citizenship among young black men, weakening the web of mutual obligation that defines full membership in American society.

基于法治视角构建我国特权治理体系

特权来源于权力,属于权力的异化。法治的本质是规范和限制权力,以法治方式治理特权是法治的应有之义,也是人类文明发展的基本经验。以法治化方式治理特权,更加规范化和制度化,将事前预防与事后矫治相结合,注重正当程序,强调以权利制约权力。在构建我国的特权治理体系时,应立足于法治视角,健全我国特权治理法律体系,完善信息公开制度、财产申报制度、行政程序制度,健全权力监督机制,完善责任追究和救济机制。