Testing intentional citizenship

ABSTRACT

Avia Pasternak argues that intentional citizens who are genuine participants of their state should share the liability for state wrongdoings. In real-world states, how prevalent is intentional citizenship? This commentary concerns the application of the theoretical model. I argue that there are two problems with Pasternak’s proposal of testing intentional citizenship in reality. First, the difficulty of distinguishing citizens’ ambiguous internal attitudes towards their citizenship is underestimated. Second, the objective aspect of citizens’ status in society, namely, the way they are treated by their state, is more important than their subjective attitudes, but this aspect is neglected by Pasternak.

KEYWORDS:

• intentional citizenship
• acceptance
• collective liability
• social status

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jinyu Sun

Jinyu Sun is an Associate Researcher at the Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University. Her research interests include collective action, political obligation, and responsibility for injustice.