Childhood and Citizenship: The viewpoint of the 21st Century

Abstract

The latter part of the Twentieth Century saw an increasing recognition of children’s claims to citizenship. Significant inroads were made towards children’s rights, placed onto the global agenda by the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989. The academic field in childhood studies responded to this social movement (Cockburn, 2013; Warming, 2011) by problematising conventional models of citizenship into one that would be fit for purpose to apply to children. This article will outline the key features of childhood studies’ approach to children’s citizenship in the twentieth century. It will then provide a short commentary on the developments this century. Finally, it will identify the themes that are likely to be pertinent now and the near future.