ABSTRACT
Globalization has forced Europeans to take a wider world into account and many wish to resist that force by reasserting the nation-state's control of the economy. For a long time globalization was viewed as primarily a phenomenon of worldwide free markets threatening unemployment in advanced economies. Globalization makes possible the separation of nation and state. It is the separation of nation and state which makes globalization possible. Globalized conditions allow for a delinking of system and life world at various levels. At the macro-level, they make possible a separation of nation and state which allows for social and cultural identity to roam freely beyond the limitations imposed upon it by earlier conditions dominated by nation-states. The idea of citizenship has resurfaced in various areas, including debates over regional identity, Europe, immigration, and competitive sport. Citizenship is viewed as some form of membership of a political community.
