Civics and Citizenship | Scope or Span of Civics and Citizenship

Civics and Citizenship

Civics is an English word. It is derived from two Latin words: ‘Civics’ and
‘Civitas’. The word ‘Civics’ means citizen and ‘Civitas’ means city-state. In
ancient Greece, citizens and the city-state were inseparable. At that time, a
city-state was comprised of small regions. Those who directly participated in
the functions of the city-state were called citizens. As slaves, women and
foreigners did not enjoy this privilege, they were not called citizens.

At present, the concept of citizen has changed with the rise of large scale
nation-states. For example, the area of Bangladesh is 1,47,570 sq. kilometers
and the total population is nearly 150 million.

We are all Bangladeshi citizens. Along with enjoying the rights of
citizenship, we perform responsibilities and duties to the state.

However, those under 18 years old among us cannot cast their votes and do not
have the right to be elected. In addition, foreigners cannot enjoy any
political rights. For instance, neither can they vote nor be nominated for
election.

In fact, the status accorded to the citizens by the state is called
citizenship. Everything related to citizenship and state is the subject matter
of ‘Civics and Citizenship’.

Therefore, British political scientist E.M. White rightly said that Civics is
such a valuable branch of knowledge that deals with the past, present, and
future of citizenship along with its local, national, and international
dimensions of humanity in detail.

In the light of subject matters, we can discuss Civics in two ways. In a
narrow sense, the subjects of Civics include rights and duties. In a broader
sense, Civics discusses everything related to citizenship. For example, it
discusses rights and duties, social and political institutions, local,
national and international dimensions of citizenship. Civics also discusses
the present, past and future of citizenship.

So, it can be said that the subject which impacts knowledge about ideal
citizenship by continued discussions of the behaviours and functions of
citizens, families, society and the state is called ‘Civics and Citizenship’.

Scope or span of Civics and Citizenship

The scope of Civics and Citizenship is vast and comprehensive. We are going to
discuss it below:

Citizens’ Right and Duties: We enjoy state-given fundamental, social,
political and economic rights as the state’s citizens; similarly, we have to
perform responsibilities and duties to the state. For example, expressing
allegiance to the state, abiding by laws, paying taxes at the right time,
educating children, serving the state, casting votes with honesty, and so on.
The rights and duties of citizen are the subject matter of ‘Civics and
Citizenship’. Moreover, the characteristics of good citizenship, barriers to
earning it and the ways to remove the obstacles are discussed in ‘Civics and
Citizenship’.

Social and Political Institutions: Social and political institutions
have been raised to develop and enrich citizens’ lives. For example, family,
society, the state, electron and political parties, etc. The origin, nature,
and functions of these institutions are also discussed in ‘Civics and
Citizenship. Besides, the subject matters of ‘Civics and Citizenship’ also
include social values, law, liberty and equality, constitution and public
opinion.

Local, National and International Dimensions of Citizenship: The place
where we live in virious local institutions develop centering us. These
institutions are as follows: Union Parishad, Pourashava and City Corporations,
etc. Similarity, legislature, executive and judiciary are formed at the
national level. International institutions like the UN and the Commonwealth
are also formed. ‘Civics and  Citizenship’ deals with the structure and
functions of these institutions and their relationships with citizens.

Past, Present and Future of Citizenship: Civics and Citizenship focus
on the past, present and future of citizenship. For instance, how citizenship
was determined, how citizens’ rights and duties were in the past, and what
citizens’ the present status is. Based on civics and Citizenship the
guidelines are given for citizenship in the future.