An important reason why the notion of citizenship has generated such theoretical interest and debate in recent years is because it rests on the precarious junction of ‘membership’ and ‘participation’. The difficulties with which the concept is fraught bear witness to this tension. For a long time ‘citizenship’, ‘citoyennete’ or ‘Staatsbiirgerschaft’ meant political membership as understood in the language of the law. Membership was conferred from above and citizenship was the legal link with a state that exercised effective power over a given territory. Membership was established through a network of duties and rights that connected citizen and state. While the element of membership did not change, as a result of the dramatic events of the late eighteenth century sovereignty was transferred from the king to the people. The transferral enriched the liberal moment of civil liberties with rights of participation in the formation of the people’s sovereign will. There was a shift of emphasis from membership to participation. The shift is so decisive as to alter the understanding of the status of citizen and establish the participatory element as the decisive one.