10903 Citizenship: Theory and Politics 1

Credits: 6 advanced credits in Political Science or in Sociology & Anthropology

Prerequisites: 36 credits, including Government and Politics in Israel or State and Society: The Sociology of Politics. Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.

Recommended: Democratic Regimes, Dictatorships in the 20th Century, Introduction to Political Thought

The course is based on readers edited by Gal Levy.

One cannot overestimate the significance of citizenship as a modern socio-political institution which defined the relationship between the individual and the state. In recent years, citizenship has become subject to an extensive theoretical debate, in which citizenship is seen as an important tool for the understanding of power relations. This debate thus extends our understanding of citizenship beyond its institutional and legal meanings.

Topics: Part One – the political history of the concept of citizenship, the meaning and role of citizenship in the liberal-democratic context, critiques of the theoretical debate; Part Two – the politics of citizenship in Israel: contemporary debates on the question of citizenship, social relations in Israel.

---

1Students may write a seminar paper in this course, although it is not required.