For a "constituent" conception of citizenship and "hosting rights"

The notion of citizenship, as conventionally perceived of in Western tradition, seems to loose its ability today to function as a universal and shared value. We can get a sense of this change by looking at the different political conceptions that run through the critical approach of the “Subaltern Studies” collective, and through the investigation of Balibar and Rancière. From this point of view, democratic practices based on communitarian auto-regulation can be considered as laboratories of a variety of different tools of knowledge that exist beyond the traditional boundaries imposed by the political space of sovereignty (as conventionally understood in Western culture). According to these perspectives, and also to Max Weber’s insights on the “Western city”, we have to acknowledge the notion of citizenship as dynamic and always in-the-making (let us call it “constituent”). In the light of this, the idea of social inclusion needs to be rethought as a “Right of Hospitality”.

The notion of citizenship, as conventionally perceived of in Western tradition, seems to loose its ability today to function as a universal and shared value.