ABSTRACT
The pressure exerted on the frontiers or boundaries of the body politic can be illustrated by the history of suffrage rights, inasmuch as elections lie at the heart of political legitimacy. The distinction between active and passive citizens, as it was formulated in 1791, is now illegitimate. The French revolutionaries had proclaimed that participating in the values and acts of the Revolution provided sufficient proof of citizenship. The national limits of citizenship are in the process of shifting from a legitimate, to an illegitimate, status. "Classical" political citizenship is accordingly disparaged, for the genuine citizen rights today are considered to be social and economic rights. National citizenship is no longer alone in giving a legal status and rights; European institutions are in the process of constructing a new citizenship that calls into question the historical link between citizenship and nation-state.
