Global CitizenshipA critical analysis of the concept and implications

Niamh Gaynor

School of Law and Government Dublin City University

niamh.gaynor@dcu.ie

What is Global Citizenship?

“ Global citizenship aims to empower pupils to lead their own action. Along with the knowledge and values that they have gained from learning about global issues, pupils need to be equipped with the necessary skills to give them the ability and confidence to be pro-active in making a positive difference in the world.”

Source: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/global-citizenship/what-is-global-citizenship

What is Global Citizenship?

“Trócaire’s Development Education work engages children, young people and educators through a process of interaction, reflection and action.

 

They are supported to make connections between their own lives and international social justice issues, and be empowered to make a positive difference in the world.”

 Source: http://www.trocaire.org/education/development-education

What is Global Citizenship?

“ Making connections between how we live in Ireland and how this impacts on the lives of people in developing world is at the heart of development education. Buying Fair-Trade products for example can make a real difference in the lives of producers in developing countries. Development education programmes provide an opportunity to challenge ourselves and find out more about our rights and responsibilities as global citizens contributing to change - act locally, think globally.”

Source: https://www.irishaid.ie/what-we-do/how-our-aid-works/raising-development-awareness/

Common themes?

• Children / youth

• Values / attitudes / behaviours

• Rights & responsibilities

• Individual agency (understanding and action)

OR SOMETHING MORE?

Global commodity chains

“one of the greatest leaders of our time…”(The Guardian, Oct 12th, 2012)

A globalised world…

Systems & structures

+

Discourses / attitudes / behaviours(tolerance, diversity, respect)

Within broader global discourses…

The poor as helpless victims in a harsh world of poor internal governance, state ineptitude and corruption

Gender equity as ‘smart economics’

“Uganda has come a long way since the dark days of conflict in the 1970s and 1980s… Today, with the support of donors including Ireland, the number of people living on less than a dollar a day has halved…

In line with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Africa Strategy, my Department is working harder than ever to research sectors and markets where there are potential matches between Irish competencies and African demand.”

Modernism & Global capitalism

Official visit Uganda and Kenya, July 2012

Image: Tony Karumba/Department of Foreign Affairs 

The ‘poor’ now also (post 9/11) with worrying propensity to violence

“ America is now threatened less by conquering states than by failing ones”

(US National Security Strategy 2002)

Citizenship

• Liberal – individual rights upheld by state – BUT– States no longer in control (emphasis on local responsibility)

• Communitarian – community embeddedness; social cohesion – BUT– What about macro-level structures?

• Republican – recognises agency of people/communities to determine structures and values– Beyond 5 yearly personality contests…– Deliberative democracy – networks of actors

A global citizen?

Understanding

(always asking why)

+

Action

(What type of action?)

‘Brand Aid’Ponte and Richey (2014), Third World Quarterly, 35(1), pp. 65–87

Activism as consumerism

Celebretisation of activism

Beyond activism as consumerism…

Beyond activism as consumerism…

Beyond the individualBuilding movements for change

Beyond the individualBuilding movements for change

“The political always has to do with the formation of an ‘us’ – a political identity”

HEIs as proponents of Global Citizenship: A fundamental paradox

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr Richard Bruton TD opens DCU’s new ‘Innovation Campus’, January 2013

HEIs as proponents of Global Citizenship: A fundamental paradox

“The third-level sector has made an enormous contribution to the challenges that this country has faced in the last number of years. Our highly skilled workforce is the key to increasing Ireland’s competitiveness for foreign investment and for the growth of indigenous industries that will lead our country out of recession.”

01 April, 2014 - Address by Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., at the USI Conference, Athlone

Towards a conclusion…

• The challenges– Systemic– Institutional

• Citizens, not subjects

• Global citizenship = Always ask why and act accordingly (together)