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Global citizenship

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'Global Citizenship' is motivated through a complex set of commitments to local interests (love of family, communal fairness, self-interest) and a sense of universal equality and notions of care for human beings and the 'world/planet' in its entirety. Global citizenship, as participatory action, entails a responsibility to alleviating local and global inequality, while simultaneously avoiding action that hinders the well-being of individuals or damages the 'world/planet'. This notion is tied to an understanding of globalization.

In terms of international relations, global citizenship may refer to a nation-state's responsibility to act with awareness of the world as a global community, by both recognizing and fulfilling its global obligations, and recognizing the rights of global 'citizens'. Global citizenship is related to the idealist school of thought, that states should include a level of moral goodwill in their foreign policy considerations. Whilst a judgement of 'good' global citizenship is a subjective one, some widely agreed upon examples of cases requiring a level of good global citizenship include the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, and the upholding of the UN Charter for Human Rights. Many states struggle to strike a balance between being a 'good' and 'effective' global citizen.

Many challenges are presented by the term 'global citizenship', including a rejection of the notion as even possible. Another challenge is presented with the closely intertwined concept of ethical universality (e.g., parcelling out individual responsibilities for the global), as the concept is often framed in terms of managerial tasks that are somehow coordinated by a larger body. Global citizenship can also be seen as motivated by economic imperatives whereby one nation state encourages fluency of international markets/cultures/languages with the intent of being more competitive within a global economy.

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See also


Pike, G., & Selby, D. (2000). In the global classroom 2. Toronto: Pippin Publishing.

Pike, G., & Selby, D. (1988). Global teacher, global learner. London: Hodder & Stoughton

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