ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE THROUGH SIKHISM WAY OF LIFE
1. CITIZENSHIP
This is the FIRST Category.
Citizenship is a membership in the political community of and allegiance to a sovereign state.
Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term citizenship to refer to nationality; these two notions are conceptually different dimensions of collective membership.
Generally, citizenships have no expiration and allow persons to work, reside and vote in the polity, as well as identify with the polity, possibly acquiring a passport. Though, through discriminatory laws, like disfranchisement and outright apartheid, citizens have been made second-class citizens.
Historically, populations of states were mostly subjects, while citizenship was a particular status which originated in the rights of urban populations, like the rights of the male public of cities and republics, particularly ancient city-states, giving rise to a civitas and the social class of the burgher or bourgeoisie. Since then states have expanded the status of citizenship to most of their national people, with the extent of citizen rights differing between state.
Citizenship and nationality are different aspects of membership of a state. Nationality is the status of the member in an international context, while citizenship is focused on a member's rights in the internal political life of the state.
Historically, the most significant difference is that a citizen has the right to vote for elected officials, and the right to be elected.
Today, the concept of full citizenship encompasses not only active political rights, but full civil rights and social rights. All citizens are nationals, but not all nationals are necessarily citizens.
The distinction between full citizenship and lesser relationships dates back to antiquity. Until the 19th and 20th centuries, it was typical for only some members of a state to be full citizens. Many people were excluded from citizenship on the basis of sex, socioeconomic class, ethnicity, religion, and other factors.
However, non-citizens had a legal relationship with their government akin to the modern concept of nationality.
