The term World Citizen has been fascinating me for quite a while, and i kept thinking that perhaps it is a notion coming from someone like me living in the 3rd world country , being unhappy with the socio-political conditions. Until recently i came across the whole movement regarding this phenomenon. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the idea here are some Wikipedia extracts for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_citizen
World citizen :
World citizen has a variety of similar meanings, often referring to a person who disapproves of traditional
geopolitical divisions derived from national
citizenship. An early incarnation of this sentiment can be found in
Diogenes of Sinope
(c. 412 B.C.), the founding father of the Cynic movement in Ancient
Greece. Of Diogenes it is said: "Asked where he came from, he answered:
'I am a citizen of the world (kosmopolitês)'".
[1]
This was a ground-breaking concept, because the broadest basis of
social identity in Greece at that time was either the individual
city-state or the Greeks (Hellenes) as a group. The
Tamil poet Kaniyan Poongundran wrote in
Purananuru, "To us all towns are one, all men our kin." In later years, political philosopher
Thomas Paine would declare, "The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren and to do good is my religion."
[2]
Albert Einstein described himself as a world citizen and supported the idea throughout his life,
[3] famously saying "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
[4] World citizenship has been promoted by distinguished people including
Garry Davis, who has lived for 60 years as a citizen of no nation, only the world. Davis founded the
World Service Authority in Washington, DC, which issues the
World Passport (usually not considered a valid passport) to world citizens.
[5] In 1956
Hugh J. Schonfield founded the
Commonwealth of World Citizens, later known by its
Esperanto name "Mondcivitan Republic", which also issued a world passport; it declined after the 1980s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_citizenship
Global Citizenship:
The term "
citizenship"
refers to an identity between a person and a city, state or nation and
their right to work, live and participate politically in a particular
geographic area. When combined with the term "global", it typically
defines a person who places their identity with a "global community"
above their identity as a citizen of a particular nation or place. The
idea is that one’s identity transcends geography or political borders
and that responsibilities or rights are or can be derived from
membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a
person denounces or waives their nationality or other, more local
identities, but such identities are given "second place" to their
membership in a global community.
[1]
In general usage, the term may have much the same meaning as World citizen or
Cosmopolitan, but it also has additional, specialized meanings in differing contexts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism:
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single
community based on a shared
morality. A person who adheres to the idea of cosmopolitanism in any of its forms is called a
cosmopolitan or
cosmopolite.
[1]
A cosmopolitan community might be based on an inclusive morality, a
shared economic relationship, or a political structure that encompasses
different nations. In a cosmopolitan community individuals from
different places (e.g. nation-states) form relationships of mutual
respect. As an example,
Kwame Anthony Appiah
suggests the possibility of a cosmopolitan community in which
individuals from varying locations (physical, economic, etc.) enter
relationships of mutual respect despite their differing beliefs
(religious, political, etc.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_city
A global city:
A global city (also called
world city or sometimes
alpha city or
world center) is a city generally considered to be an important node in the global
economic system. The concept comes from geography and
urban studies and rests on the idea that
globalization can be understood as largely created, facilitated, and enacted in strategic
geographic locales according to a hierarchy of importance to the operation of the global system of
finance and
trade.
The most complex of these entities is the "global city", whereby the
linkages binding a city have a direct and tangible effect on global
affairs through
socio-economic means.
[1] The use of "global city", as opposed to "
megacity", was popularized by
sociologist Saskia Sassen in her 1991 work,
The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo[2]
though the term "world city" to describe cities that control a
disproportionate amount of global business dates to at least the May
1886 description of
Liverpool by
The Illustrated London News.
[3] Patrick Geddes also used the term "world city" later in 1915.
[4] Cities can also fall from such categorization, as in the case of cities that have become less
cosmopolitan and less internationally renowned in the current era.
and it all of course brings ideas opposing it, and sometimes complicating it. e.g :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nationalism
Anti-nationalism denotes the sentiments associated with the opposition to
nationalism. Some anti-nationalists are
humanitarians or
humanists who pursue an
idealist form of world community, and self-identify as
world citizens. They reject
chauvinism,
jingoism and
militarism, and want
humans to live in
peace rather than perpetual conflict.
[citation needed] The
Abrahamic religions
of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism offer a critique of territory-based
nationalism that recognizes nationalism as a form of compelled pagan
religious belief, as articulated in a range of sources, including the
University of Columbia academic and pioneer of innationalism studies
Carlton Hayes in his 1960 text
Nationalism: A Religion.
[citation needed]
The imposition of nationalism as a belief or identity system,
particularly when in conflict with more established and self-sustaining
identity choices can be understood to undermine the legitimacy of
territory-based nationalism. They do not necessarily oppose the concepts
of
countries,
nation states,
national boundaries, cultural preservation or
identity politics.
Some anti-nationalists oppose all types of nationalism, including
ethnic nationalism among oppressed
minority groups.
This strain of anti-nationalism typically advocates the elimination of
national boundaries. Variations on this theme are often seen in
Marxist theory. Marx and
Engels rejected nationalism as a whole, stating "the working class have no country".
[1] More recently, certain groups descended from the
Maoist tradition of
Marxism
have moved towards this fiercely anti-nationalist stance in a different
way than Trotskyists, saying that although it may be a painful and
unpopular position to hear, ultimately opposing all nationalism
strengthens
proletarian internationalism. Many Trotskyists, however, such as
Chris Harman, were critical of nationalism while advocating support for what they saw as progressive national struggles.
[2]
In recent times,
Islamism has been described as an anti-nationalist movement,
[citation needed] calling for unity of all Muslims and discarding the notion of nationality.
Anarchism has developed a
critique of nationalism
that focuses on nationalism's role in justifying and consolidating
state power and domination. Through its unifying goal, nationalism
strives for centralization, both in specific territories and in a ruling
elite of individuals, while it prepares a population for capitalist
exploitation. Within anarchism, this subject has been treated
extensively by
Rudolf Rocker in
Nationalism and Culture and by the works of
Fredy Perlman, such as
Against His-Story, Against Leviathan and "The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism".
[3]
In his "Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life",
Arthur Schopenhauer rejected nationalism, seeing it as an abandonment of personal identity.
[4] The philosophy of
Friedrich Nietzsche
can also be seen as opposing all forms of nationalism, although he
opposed virtually every other form of social movement and ideology as
well.
[5] Søren Kierkegaard's philosophy is a criticism and vehement rejection of Christian nationalism.
[6]
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_migration
Existential migration is a term coined by Greg Madison (2006) in
Existential Analysis, the journal of the
Society for Existential Analysis. Madison's term describes
expatriates (voluntary emigrants) who supposedly have an "existential" motivation, unlike
economic migration, simple
wanderlust,
exile, or variations of
forced migration. ‘Existential migration’ is conceived as a chosen attempt to express something fundamental about existence by leaving one’s
homeland and becoming a foreigner.
As well as the new concept of existential migration, the research proposed a novel definition of
home as interaction;
that the ‘feeling of home’ arises from specific interactions with our
surroundings that could potentially occur anywhere, at any time. This is
in contrast to the usual definition of home as a fixed geographical
place. The new concept also challenges our usual definitions of being at
home, the experience of foreignness, what constitutes
belonging,
and the nature of homelessness. The insights gained from this new
concept elaborate our existing understanding of migration in exciting
ways. Existential migration suggests reformulations of the psychological
underpinnings of migration studies,
cultural anthropology,
tourism studies,
cross-cultural training,
refugee studies, and
psychotherapy.
Madison's research presents its subject matter in a clear and evocative
way, emphasising the actual stories of voluntary migrants in order to
convey the poignancy of the topic.
The phenomenological research that gave rise to the concept of
existential migration (Madison, 2006) also suggests a cautionary note
regarding the psychological impact of increasing
globalisation. While globalisation is frequently presented as an economic evolution of
capitalism
and as a market necessity, there is scant discourse about the impact
that these profound changes in world structure may have upon the
experience of people in their daily lives. Although the phenomenological
research on voluntary migration needs further critique, the first
research does suggest that the
world community may in fact be entering an age of global
homelessness.
Of course recent economic turbulence has curtailed the increasing
expectation that young professionals should be prepared to live abroad
in order to enhance their
career
prospects and indeed many, especially in the financial sector, are
unexpectedly returning home after foreign assignments. However, even
these returns home are often more problematic than expected and rather
than return, they seem to resemble yet another migration due to the
subsequent changes in person and home environment since the original
leaving.
The concept of existential migration has generated considerable
comment from voluntary migrants around the world as well as
psychological and
social science
researchers, though there remains precious little in print about these
fundamental existential motivations for migration. The concept has
commonalities with some of the work on
cosmopolitanism by the anthropologist Nigel Rapport. A book on the subject, entitled
The End of Belonging,
is available publicly. The research is increasingly cited by new
international researchers exploring the experience of voluntary
migration.
etc.
interesting right?
for more, research and think on your own ... i have planted the bug :P
