Citizenship of the world: advantages and disadvantages

Citizen of the World

With the concept of globalization taking root in literally every corner of the world and the world becoming a village, there is an apparent unstoppable trend of people seeking to be global citizens. The globalization of economy, culture and politics has made is quite an essential thing for every individual to be able to embrace a variety of ways and systems that are found allover the world in order to fit in the global stage and be competent.

It is with the globalization of the trade, politics and cultures that many countries have introduced and embraced the idea of dual citizenship. This is a situation where one is allowed to acquire the citizenship of another country (within the legal frameworks) as well as retaining the citizenship of the original country of birth.

Technically a citizen of the world is one who has embraced and complies with the various cultures and philosophies that are in existence in the diverse communities of the universe. They accept and can live in any part of the world since they believe in the existence of a universal culture and universal values and human characteristics. One of the strongest indicators of global citizenship is the cosmopolitanism. According to Nussbaum, the Athenians were the first cosmopolitans who effectively encountered the cultures that were different from their own cultures (Nicholas C. Burbules, 1999).

Advantages of being a world citizen

There are several advantages that come with being global citizen. The various countries will benefit by having their economic base broadened and the trade and investments widened among the concerned countries since the individual will be at liberty to trade and invest in any of these countries (New Citizen, 2011).

The other advantage is that the individual will be able to retain the identity under which they were born and the cultures they were brought up in as they learn the various other cultures. This will enable them to retain their cultures and the benefits therein as well as explore other areas and cultural beliefs.

World citizenship can also ultimately help in the establishment and propagation of peace throughout the world. This will come into effect when everyone view themselves as members of one world and subscribing to the same global culture hence will foster peaceful coexistence and harmony as well as increase the acceptance of people from different parts of the world.

World citizenship will also foster political consciousness across the globe. There are regions that are more advanced politically than others, this means that as the global values will be enhanced, there will be influence propagation across the regions and the other areas will as well earn and adopt the political standpoints and styles of the other advanced regions.

Disadvantages of world citizenship

There are various disadvantages that come with being a citizen of the world. One thing is that the idea insinuates that there will be a universal or global government which is far fetched and impractical. The other issue is that such a regime could end up being intolerant of some cultures, ruthless to some dissidents and disregard some cultures.

The other problem can sprout from people being removed from their culture that they are used to and being forced to adhere to a global culture. This will mean an intentional subjugation and killing of the culture of some people since even the global culture will inevitably have traces of some majority state cultures.