|
|
Group identity: unless you are born in Canada, becoming a Canadian citizen is a long and involved process.(CITIZENSHIP--TYPES)
- Article from:
-
Canada and the World Backgrounder
- Article date:
-
December 1, 2006
|
Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2006 Canada & the World. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Citizenship as we know it is tied tightly to democracy. In states operated as absolute monarchies (Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, Brunei) or dictatorships (North Korea, Turkmenistan, Cuba) the people may be citizens but they are without fights. They certainly can't change their government and they must give their allegiance to a single leader. They have little protection from being jailed or even executed at the whim of their leader. Such states are the remnants of what used to be the dominant form of social organization.
There have been a number of false starts towards what we think of as citizenship today. During the time of the lawmaker and poet Solon (639-559 BCE) the idea ...