The present Steering Committee of the Citizenship Standing Group has been elected during the ECPR Conference in Glasgow in 2014.
Convenor : Trond Solhaug, Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. To me, citizenship in all its facets is the most fascinating research field because it affects people’s lives profoundly and this highly motivates my work in SG citizenship. Particularly in the 21st century citizenship has become increasingly important in shaping people’s lives and politics. In many countries formal civil, political and social rights are being challenged and subject to acts of citizenship and accompanying political tensions. Globalization challenge nation-states as the legal framework for citizenship and forms of dual or transnational citizenship increase leaving an increasing number with a status of “non-citizens”. Environmental issues, global inequality and regional conflicts require states and citizens to think beyond the nation state in search for political solutions. Migration continues to diversify societies, which continuously shape and reshape citizenship. Increased pluralism is not least apparent in schools where diversified classes shape students’ social and environment. This diversification affects students’ learning and call for changes in teacher practices schools. My research contribution has two strands: First, research on citizens’ practices and their citizenship learning in schools and second, research on teacher education for fostering inclusive citizenship.
Bernard Fournier, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Bernard’s current work deals with political socialization, political behaviour in Canada and Europe – especially the involvement of young people in politics –, nationalism and identities, distributive justice and the role of the state, as well as, more globally, methodological and epistemological issues in social science. Recently, he publishes on the perspective of lowering the right to vote at 16. He also teaches at the Haute école de la province de Liège.
Associate professor Katja Mäkinen, University of Jyväskylä Finland. or Katja, places and scales are among the most interesting aspects of citizenship at the moment. In her current research, Katja studies citizens’ participation in EU-programmes and evaluates the relations between public administration and civic participation. Her PhD research focused on how citizenship is constructed in the EU documents on citizenship and culture. She analysed participation, rights and identity as dimensions of citizenship as well as their connections with culture and diversity. Katja finds it important to ask what kind of implications different participatory practices have for democracy and power.
Senior lecturer, Joe Turner, University of Sheffield, England. Joe’s research sits at the cross-section of international politics, history and sociology. He is interested in critical approaches to citizenship studies and the role government plays in the production of identity/difference. He is particularly interested in the formation of nationalism and the cultural and political norms that underpin our understanding of ‘belonging’. His work is broadly historical and attempts to explore how past assemblages of knowledge, power and practice inform the present.
Senior lecturer Nora Siklodi, University of Portsmouth, 
England. She is interested in European politics. Her current research focuses on European citizenship, identity and political behaviour. She is interested in particular about how intra-EU migration affects citizens’ perceptions of the EU. Her doctoral research, funded through a Royal Holloway studentship, probed into whether, how, and to what extent citizens have realised the ideals of European citizenship envisaged by the leading actors in the EU. In particular, it tested a hypothesis about how European citizenship becomes realised: that it is transnational mobility that makes fulfilment of European citizenship most likely. This premise is examined using secondary survey data and original focus group evidence of visiting European and home students in Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Citizenship 