Economic citizenship

Economic citizenship can be used to represent both the economic contributions requisite to become a citizen as well as the role in which ones economic standing can influence his or her rights as a citizen. The relationship between economic participation and citizenship can be considered a contributing factor to increasing inequalities and unequal representation of different socioeconomic classes within a country.

The republican model of citizenship emphasizes one’s active participation in civil society as a means of defining his or her citizenship. Initially used to describe citizenship in ancient Greece, the republican notion focuses on how political participation is linked with one’s indent as a citizen, stemming from Aristotle’s definition of citizenship as the ability to rule and be ruled.

In relation to economic citizenship, the civil participation discussed by Aristotle can be described as economic participation so critical to the capitalist system. Defining one’s ability to be a full citizenship by his or her economic participation will establish a variegated system of citizenship in which those who can contribute most to the economy will be better represented and have a broader range of rights than those who cannot contribute as much. Variegated citizenship represents the concept that those within a different regime or status receive different levels of rights and privileges.

T.H. Marshall acknowledges this concept in his discussion on the relationships between social class, capitalism and citizenship. He argues that capitalism is reliant upon social classes which directly relates to differentiated concepts of citizenship.

Similarly, Alice Kessler-Harris discusses the relationship between one’s ability to labor, and his or her right to equal wages as a component of citizenship. Her central argument addresses how denying a woman the right to labor and equal wages limits her identity as a citizen.

The arguments by both of these theorists contribute to the notion of economic citizenship because they highlight both how economic standing and participation can be linked to one’s identity and privileges as a citizen.

Citizenship-by-investment enables individuals to acquire an additional citizenship by making an exceptional economic contribution to another country. This can be done by successfully completing a citizenship-by-investment program (also referred to as Immigrant investor programs). Most of these programs are structured to ensure that the investment contributes to the welfare, advancement and economic development of the country in which they wish to reside or belong to. It is more often more about making an economic contribution than just an investment. These programs must be run in a manner which is legal and transparent, and in keeping with the constitution of the nation offering citizenship. This ideally should prevent corruption at the same time as giving the individual obtaining citizenship a sound legal right to their new citizenship.

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Wikipedia