Občianstvo v komunite a spoločnosti: Dichotómia Ferdinanda Tönniea Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft a politická príslušnosť
Citizenship in Community and Society: Ferdinand Tönnies’ Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft Dichotomy and Political Appurtenance

Summary/Abstract: We propose to present a paper on the application of Ferdinand Tönnies’ conceptual dichotomy “Gemeinschaft” and “Gesellschaft” to concepts and conceptions of citizenship and nationality. This reflection on the ultimate bases of appurtenance illuminates possible intentions behind the expression, “community” in the political constructs of the European Communities. Here, we propose to return to Tönnies’ work first to explore appurtenance to a common entity upon the basis of the Universalist natural law developed by Thomas Hobbes. Here, utilitarian anthropological assumptions underlie a quest for forms of governance with formal equality of appurtenance (Gesellschaft). Then we shall explore appurtenance based upon shared particularities rooted in blood, in soil and in time (Gemeinschaft), in which cultural assimilation is a prerequisite and appurtenance is asserted by degrees according to rootedness. The evolution of definitions of “community” in the course of the twentieth century is related to the rise and fall of the attractiveness of Gemeinschaft when compared with Gesellschaft. This shall be illustrated with reference to the thought of Dominique Schnapper. We shall conclude with an exploration of historical distinctions related to the debate on nationality and citizenship in Germany, with its specific terminology of Staatsvolk, Volksgenosse, Staatsbürger, etc.

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