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and undemocratic ways – including relations of coloniser and colonised; settler and indigenous; racialised and unmarked; civilised and backward; master and slave; and so on. The task for all liberal democracies has been to turn this catalogue of uncivil relations into relationships of liberaldemocratic citizenship, both in terms of the vertical relationship between the members of minorities and the state, and the horizontal relationships amongst the members of different groups. This is the origin of the models of ‘multicultural citizenship’ that we have begun to see in several Commonwealth democracies. We can see similar historical dynamics in other spheres, whether in relation to gender, sexual orientation, the treatment of the mentally ill, children or people with disabilities. In all of these cases, we can see efforts to replace earlier uncivil relations of domination, coercion, paternalism and intolerance with newer relations of democratic citizenship. As such, citizenisation means more than simply granting individuals the formal status of ‘citizen’ since this can be done in a unilateral and paternalistic way. Consider the case of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. They were granted legal citizenship in 1960, but this was without their consultation. The process of citizenisation arguably began not in 1960 but in the 1970s R e s p o n s i b l e c i t i z e n s h i p : A n ew a p p r o a c h when, in response to Aboriginal political mobilisation, the Canadian Government abandoned its assimilationist approach and decided instead to enter into good-faith negotiations over land claims and self-government. Citizenisation in this sense is both fragile and incomplete. Instances of the ‘securitisation’ of Muslims are examples of a retreat from citizenisation since a dialogue has been replaced with distrust, coercion and raison d’état (Cesari, 2009). The treatment of the poor is also always vulnerable to retreat from citizenisation to force and paternalism (Geutzkow, 2010). Indeed, some commentators worry that larger social and economic trends are making it more difficult to sustain social projects of citizenisation. Respect and understanding If citizenisation is about more than the formal status of citizenship, what more or what else does it involve? Tully (2001) says that citizenship involves a commitment to allowing all those affected by common rules to help determine such rules (quod omnes tangit – what touches all must be agreed to by all). But this in turn rests on a deeper set of values. Citizenisation, I would argue, is premised on values such as autonomy, agency, consent, trust, Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 93 Uphill struggle: citizenship is an ambitious commitment to re-order relationships. (Pictured: Commonwealth women’s expedition training, Norway) Commonwealth Secretariat


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