Children and Citizenship

Children and Citizenship offers a contemporary and critical approach to the central debates around notions of children's citizenship. Drawing on different disciplinary perspectives and including contributions by leading scholars in the field, this book makes explicit connections between theoretical approaches, representations of childhood, and the experiences of children themselves, legal instruments, policies, and their implementation. The book contains reflections on the notion of children's citizenship in general as well as in relation to international instruments, in particular the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the case law of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and EU legislation relating to citizenship and children's rights.

The contributions are structured around the main themes: notions of children's citizenship; constructions of childhood and children's experiences and legislation and policy. In each chapter the authors present complex issues in an accessible way, helping readers to understand notions of children's citizenship that embedded in contemporary debates.

Children and Citizenship is an important and timely book that provides a much needed discussion of children's citizenship and rights, placing proper emphasis on the importance of understanding key theoretical issues and different traditions of (adult) citizenship and including them in contemporary debates about children. Further it makes in-depth examination of how specific images of childhood are embedded in legislation and includes examination of children's experience. It will be invaluable for undergraduate and graduate students across a wide number of disciplines, including health, social work, childhood studies, youth studies, education, social policy, together with policy-makers and practitioners in allied areas.