We All are Europe - AESAEC

Module 2 – The Concept of Active European Citizenship and its Relevance for Senior Citizens
Module 2:
Steffen Hartje (Fritid&Samfund/DK)
The Concept of Active European Citizenship and its
Relevance for Senior Citizens
Unit 1
Unit in a nutshell
Achievements
Why is AEC important for senior citizens
Understanding the concept of Active European Citizenship (AEC) and its
relevance to senior citizens
Demonstrating the opportunities of AEC for elderly citizens
After this unit you will be able to:
understand why it was - and still is - important to develop the idea of
AEC
understand the rights and obligations upon which the concept of Active
Citizenship is established
apply the concept of AEC to daily life.
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
Socrates
Warming up:
Please discuss freely about whether or not you have
ever heard about the concept of Active European Citizenship
and what citizenship in general and European
citizenship in particular mean to you.
Listen / Read
2.1.1. The idea of an active citizenship
The idea of an active citizenship is not new but can be traced back to ancient Greece, where the
philosopher Aristotle was the first to develop a theory about citizenship. In 500 to 400 before Christ,
as a result of Aristotle’s concept, citizenship was practiced by the city government in Athens, called
polis. Greek citizenship was primarily built on the obligations that each citizen had to the city government.
To be an active citizen, one who took part in political life, was considered to be a moral
duty. One was morally obliged to take an active part in common polis matters, if one was to be
respected as a citizen and a human being. The citizenship idea was thus closely linked to the individual
citizen’s rights and the duty to take an active part in the political community. Even though
citizenship was based more on the obligations towards the city government than on the rights of the
individual citizen, the obligations did not take the form of legal orders, but were considered as an
option to serve the community and to gain the resulting respect.
In the 1700s there was a redrafting of the citizenship concept. The beginning of industrialisation and
the spread of the market economy started to create large social changes. These changes were both
results as well as catalysts due to the enormous gap that existed between the traditional absolute
monarchies at the time and the new progressive sense of citizenship - which among other things
finally led to the French Revolution in 1789. At the philosophical level the period was marked by the
enlightenment philosophy that contributed to the development of new values such as freedom,
tolerance, pluralism, individual rights and also secularisation, which separated religion and poli-
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