Abstract

The Author analyses, among many possible meanings of citizenship, two types which had a part in the process of modern State building: citizenship is sometimes a relationship between the individual and the sovereign, sometimes consciousness of a collective membership. Both meanings have a link with the sovereignty and the process of modern State building. After the "great Neutralisation" of the Nineteenth Century, some reflections are developed about the relationship between citizenship and sovereignty in the Twentieth Century. Finally, the Author emphasizes the necessity of a statute that sets the requirements needed to become a citizen in order to pacify the conflicts of multicultural societies.