Citizenship beyond the nation-State. New perspectives in the citizenship debate

Citizenship is one of the main elements of the modern notion of democracy: every restriction or improvement of this right influences democracy itself. Modern migration and the birth of multicultural societies (Kymlicka), the growth of mobility in a globalised world (Sassen, Urry, Recchi, Favell), emerging differences in the access to rights (Chatterje), the re-birth of cosmopolitanism on a global scale (Benhabib), the crisis of the welfare state in industrialised countries (Donati) and new forms of participation and active citizenship (Crick, Lockyer; Moro) are some of the emerging issues of debate in social sciences. The introduction of European Union (EU) citizenship added a crucial issue to this debate. EU citizenship is the only form of supranational citizenship in the world, undermining the exclusivity of national citizenship. Despite its contradictions and ambiguities, does it open the way to a new model of citizenship? How has EU citizenship contributed to this debate? Is EU citizenship a real challenge to state-based citizenship?