Citizenship, which is explained above, is the political rights of an individual within a society. Thus, you can have a citizenship from one country and be a national of another country. One example might be as follows: A Cuban-American might be considered a national of Cuba due to his being born there, but he could also become an American citizen through naturalization. Nationality most often derives from place of birth and, in some cases, ethnicity. Citizenship derives from a legal relationship with a state. Citizenship can be lost, as in denaturalization, and gained, as in naturalization.

The term Active Citizenship implies working towards the betterment of one's community through economic participation, public service, volunteer work, and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens. In this vein, schools in England provide lessons in citizenship. In Wales the model used is Personal and Social Education. Jurgen Habermas emphasizes in his 'notes on a post-secular society' that both religious and secular mentalities must be open to a complementary learning process if we are to balance shared citizenship and cultural difference.

The first form of citizenship is based on the way people lived in the ancient Greek times, in small-scale organic communities of the polis. In these days citizenship could not be seen as a public matter, separated from the private life of the individual person. The obligations of citizenship were deeply connected into one’s everyday life in the polis. To be truly human, one had to be an active citizen to the community, which Aristotle has famously expressed: “To take no part in the running of the community's affairs is to be either a beast or a god!” This form of citizenship was based on obligations of citizens towards the community, rather than rights given to the citizens of the community. This was not a problem because they all had such a strong affinity with the polis; their own destiny and the destiny of the community were strongly linked.

This was not all; citizens of the polis saw the obligations of the community as an opportunity to be virtuous, it was their primary source of honour and respect. In Athens, citizens were both ruler and ruled, important political and judicial offices were rotated and all citizens had the right to speak and vote in the political assembly. An important aspect of polis citizenship was however; the exclusivity. The citizenship in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in cities that practiced citizenship in the Middle Ages, was very exclusive and inequality of status was widely accepted. Those who were citizens had a much higher status than those who could not obtain the status of a citizen, such as women, slaves or ‘barbarians’. Women were considered not to be rationally capable of political participation for example (although some, most prominently Plato, disagreed).

There were also other methods used to determine whether someone could be a citizen or not, at certain times this had to do with wealth (the amount of taxes one paid), political participation, heritage (both parents had to be born in the polis). In the times of the Roman Empire the polis citizenship changed its form: the reach of citizenship was expanded from the small scale communities throughout the empire. The Romans found that granting citizenship to people from all over the empire was legitimating for Roman rule over conquered areas. They also found that taxes were more easily collected and the need for expensive military power in those areas with citizenship was reduced. Citizenship during the Roman era was no longer a status of political agency; it had been reduced to a judicial safeguard and the expression of rule and law. After the collapse of the Roman Empire the importance of citizenship became even smaller. During the Middle Ages, the search for personal salvation had replaced the pursuit of honour through the exercise of citizenship. The church has replaced the political community as focus for moral guidance and loyalty.

The Maastricht Treaty introduced the concept of European citizenship. This citizenship flows from national citizenship — one holds the nationality of a EU member state and as a result becomes a "citizen of the Union" in addition. EU citizenship offers certain rights and privileges within the EU; in many areas EU citizens have the same or similar rights as native citizens in member states. Such rights granted to EU citizens include:

• freedom of movement and the right of residence within the territory of the Member States;

• right to vote and stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament and at municipal elections in the Member State of residence;

• right to diplomatic and consular protection;

• right of petition to the European Parliament; and

• right to refer to the Ombudsman.

The right of residence connotes not only the right of abode, but also the right to apply to work in any position (including national civil services with the exception of sensitive positions such as defence). EU member states also use a common passport design, burgundy coloured, with the name of the member state, national seal, and the title "European Union" (or its translation), and most also use a common format for their driving licences in order to simplify their use within the whole EU.