Citizenship: The Public vs Private Life

In a democratic government the role of a citizen must be clearly defined. What makes one a citizen? What rights and responsibilities does that include? Can citizenship or the associated rights be stripped if the person does not meet the requirements set forth by the society? These questions were perhaps even more important to the Greeks than they are to us today since their government was run directly from the citizens rather than through representatives.

Aristotle addresses The citizen, civic virtue, and the civic body in Politics, Book III, Ch 1-5. In Chapter 1, he explains that in a democracy a citizen is not a complete citizen just because they live in a certain place, or are born in a certain place, or even because they have access to the courts. Rather that "his special characteristic is that he shares in the administration of justice, and in offices" or more broadly, that "He who has the power to take part in the deliberative or judicial administration of any state is said by us to be a citizen of that state".

So here we can see a definition of a citizen that is more stringent than our own and is tied much more closely to the state than our own. Our relationship with the state involves almost entirely receiving rights, with the only societal expectation of responsibility being that we obey the laws. The Greek relationship between the citizen and the state involved more responsibilities for the citizens, like active political involvment and the willingness to participate in military campaigns.

Finally, in Chapter 5, Aristotle addresses whether those who hold no share in office can be true citizens. He concludes that they are not as "he is a citizen in the highest sense who shares in the honours of the state" and "he who is excluded from the honours of the state is no better than an alien". Aristotle states that "It must be admitted that we cannot consider all those to be citizens who are necessary to the existence of the state; for example, children are not citizens equally with grown-up men, who are citizens absolutely" This shows a consistent and firm belief that the rights and responsibilities of citizens were firmly linked to their participation in public life, and that it was not sufficient to be born a citizen if you did not fulfill these public duties.