Supra-National and Sub-National Citizenship: British Empire, European Union, and Cityzenship?

In the eyes of the law, nation state citizenship is largely about holding formal legal status. While it is true that citizenship is ordinarily understood as nation state citizenship there are some exceptions. A key inquiry of this paper is do these exceptions prove any more inclusive or universal than nation state membership? I select a couple of supra-national exceptions to nation state membership which have had an impact on the United Kingdom and the wider world. One such exception is EU citizenship (continental regional focus) which permeated national legal regimes through free movement related expansion of legal rights and obligations. Another exception was in the days of empire when people could, at least in theory, move far and wide as subjects. In the next few sections, we can evaluate, (even if briefly given the constraints of an article), how these two kinds of citizenship measure up to nation state citizenship. After this evaluation the paper will examine alternative ideas for reinvigorating the substantive content of citizenship such as through ‘city-zenship’ 4and analyse if there is scope for going beyond the exclusionary forces of national and supra-national memberships as well as the hostile environment. The conclusion is ultimately both contingent and tentative, but it seeks to drive thinking and analysis on forms of citizenship which may be sustainable and impactful. It suggests that cities could be key actors.