What does citizenship require of Africans, or what do Africans require of citizenship?

Onazi, Oche (2015) What does citizenship require of Africans, or what do Africans require of citizenship? Sousa Santos, B. De, Cunha, T., De Sousa Santos, Boaventura and Cunha, Teresa (eds.) In International Colloquium Epistemologies of the South: South-South, South-North and North South Global Learnings - Proceedings. vol. 4, Centro de Estudos Sociais. pp. 267-283 .

Abstract

The widespread model of citizenship tends to prioritise its legal and political character at the expense of its ethical and moral character to the extent that, although many African citizens sufficiently understand the vertical obligations required of the concept, they do not sufficiently understand the horizontal obligations also required of it. This accounts for, although not entirely, the deep-seated problems of social, economic, cultural and political exclusions in many contemporary African political communities that, I argue, cannot be sufficiently addressed without a model of citizenship that gives primacy to the ethical and moral obligations between one citizen and another. I further argue that such ethical and moral obligations may be realised through an African-inspired legal theory or philosophy of citizenship that could offer the capacity to nurture citizens to mutually recognise the equal humanity and dignity of one another.

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Contributors

Author: Oche Onazi

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