Global citizenship

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Global Citizenship is both moral and ethical disposition which might guide an individual or groups' understanding of the local and global contexts — and their relative responsibilities within different communities. It 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 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 planet. This notion is closely linked to an understanding of globalization and cosmopolitanism.

In the field of education, the concept of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is rapidly incorporating, and at times superseding, references to "Multicultural Education", "Peace Education", "Human Rights Education' and "International Education".

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.

The concept of global citizenship dates back as far as the Stoics of ancient Greece and Rome who pledged primary allegiance to the universal ideals of justice and honor over their allegiance to the polis or city-state. One of the earliest known declarations of global citizenship that is frequently cited by scholars came from the ancient Greek Cynic philosopher Diogenes. When asked where he came from, he would reply, "I am a citizen of the world."[1] Various intellectuals since have addressed this subject, such as Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense (1776) who wrote, "My country is the world. My countrymen are mankind." Albert Einstein, another popular intellectual, addressed the need for more of a global approach to citizenship when he wrote, "Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race."

Many challenges are presented by the term 'global citizenship', extending to a total rejection of the notion as even possible. For example, one prominent challenge is how global citizenship is closely intertwined with the concept of ethical universality (e.g., parcelling out individual responsibilities for the global). Ethical universality can frame global citizenship in terms of managerial tasks that are somehow coordinated by a larger (cohesive) entity. 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. This is often identified as a 'neoliberal' approach to global citizenship. Global citizenship is people all over the world working together everyday making the world a better place.

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[edit] External links

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