Abstract
The meaning of citizenship is a widely contested issue nowadays. Historically, however, much is still unclear about how modern conceptions of citizenship have come about. While it is generally acknowledged that the political revolutions of the late eighteenth century in France, The Netherlands, and the United States radically changed the meaning of citizenship, we do not adequately understand how and why this happened, and moreover, what the legacy is of what has been called the 'age of the democratic revolution'. After the Napoleonic era, after all, both France and The Netherlands turned from republics into (constitutional) monarchies. Within a relatively short period of time radical democratic-republican conceptions of citizenship that emerged during revolutionary times were superseded by post-revolutionary, more moderate and liberal 'depoliticized' conceptions of citizenship. This research project aims to investigate this transnational transformation of the meaning of citizenship in the period 1776-1830, its origins, and the contexts in which it took place. Existing studies have focused either on the revolutionary era itself, discussed citizenship from conceptual-linguistic or socioeconomic perspectives, or studied citizenship in a limited national context. This research project suggests that (1) it is precisely the transition from revolutionary to post-revolutionary conceptions of citizenship that is a crucial, but largely unexplored chapter in the historical development of modern citizenship; that (2) in order to unravel this complex issue a comprehensive approach is required that connects long-term structural (institutional) and intellectual developments with the political dynamic of the revolutionary and post-revolutionary period; and that (3) a transnational perspective is needed to explain how transnational intellectual exchange and interaction between revolutionaries, long-term developments and the revolutionary political dynamic have shaped this transition. By investigating the transformation of citizenship from a comparative and transnational perspective and probing how it interacted with internal developments within France, The Netherlands, and the United States, this project intends to answer questions about what caused the emergence of post-revolutionary conceptions of citizenship and what its origins were; if, and how the picture of a 'democratic revolution' can be reconciled with the more moderate, rather liberal models of citizenship under constitutional monarchies (in the case of France and The Netherlands); how the differences between the trajectories of the changing meaning of citizenship in the three countries can be explained; and finally, whether it is possible to identify a general conceptual core in transnational post-revolutionary conceptions of citizenship.