Citizenship as a relational field: interests and identities across cleavages and seams

This paper proposes an ontological reconstruction of citizenship grounded in a relational architecture composed of two fundamental axes: the vertical relationship between citizens and political authority, and the horizontal relationship among citizens themselves. Moving beyond epistemological approaches that focus on how citizenship is recognised or classified, the paper identifies the relational dynamics through which citizenship is experienced, negotiated, and contested. Drawing on genealogical insights from ancient Greece and Rome, the framework distinguishes between vertical representation and responsiveness on the one hand, and, on the other, horizontal recognition and mutual sharing among citizens themselves, showing how interests and identities operate as essential forces that shape seams along both axes. By combining these axes, the paper develops a bi-dimensional field composed of four ideal-types – subjectship, democratic, liberal-clientelist, and full citizenship – each reflecting distinctive configurations of relational citizenship. The analysis emphasises that interests and identities are not obstacles to citizenship but its constitutive ingredients, determining the strength, or otherwise weakness, of relational seams.

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