6.7.3 Individual Rights and Responsibilities

(This is a current page, from the Patterns of Power Edition 3 book contents. An archived copy of this page is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition03/673.htm)

An individual’s rights and responsibilities in a country are politically determined. They partly depend upon whether the person is deemed to be a citizen of that country. It is a politically contested topic because globalisation has led to an increase in population movement; some people want migration to be as smooth as possible, whereas others want to put controls in place.

The following sub-sections examine the rights and responsibilities of each status of individual:

Some rights and responsibilities apply to everyone, including temporary visitors (7.3.1).
Permanent residents – ‘denizens’ – have additional rights and responsibilities, which may be discretionary (7.3.2).
Citizens have more automatic rights and responsibilities than denizens or visitors (7.3.3).

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