Richard Maxwell Project

I find what Jennie has said very interesting. It made me think about the difference between those who enter our country and those who live here naturally. Who are the true citizens? In politics, we face huge issues over immigration and asylum and many state that immigrants do not 'belong' in our country as they have not lived and worked here for the entirety of their lives. However it could be argued that people who enter our country and pledge allegiance to the Queen are in fact the better citizen because they have made a kind of dedication that many Britons would be reluctant to make, as they have the power and ability to state that they do not 'agree' with the ideas they would have to dedicate themselves to. Through citizenship ceremonies I can imagine that a sense of unity would be easily formed - an idea that Britain is a cohesive force which these people are becoming part of. However, in reality there is the potential for this to be very different. I looked up a definition of citizenship and this is what I found:

A citizen is a participatory member of a political community. Citizenship is gained by meeting the legal requirements of a national, state or local government. A nation grants certain rights and privileges to its citizens. In return, citizens are expected to obey their country's laws and defend it against its enemies.
(http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/government/civics.htm)

Even though it is expected for British nationals to fulfil these commitments, they never have to explicitly state that they will in the same way that those who participate in citizenship ceremonies do. It is occurring to me that maybe the idea of citizenship raises the question: 'what qualities does the perfect citizen hold?'.