Introduction

Conflicting interpretations of the meaning of fundamental norms are perhaps most commonly and clearly stated by different conceptualisations of citizenship. Thus, modern approaches would define citizenship to mean a universal right, while other more contextual approaches would understand it as a particularistic practice. Contextualised meanings of citizenship are made evident by comparing interpretations generated within different domestic political arenas horizontally. In addition, this book's case study focuses on a vertical comparison between transnational and domestic political arenas. To identify variation in the meaning of citizenship as a fundamental norm in international relations (compare Table 4.2, norm-type 1), this chapter begins to examine individually transported associative connotations in relation to a set of norms. As one of three chapters, it focuses on discursive interventions uttered by individual elites who work and live in political arenas which differ according to type and nationality. While some of the nationalities overlap (British and Germans) with the arena in which the individuals work and live (London and Berlin, respectively), others do not (British and Germans conducting their life in Brussels). The following proceeds in three further sections.