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This study examines the extent to which the transfer of legislative competence to polities above and below the state problematizes a national model of membership. The study first examines fragmentation of competences determinative of social membership across the polities of two ‘asymmetric constitutions’ (constitutional structures in which both the whole and the parts are distinct territorially-bounded political communities, and in which legislative competence is allocated unevenly across the constituent polities). Two case studies then explore how those polities exercise those competences so as to define the boundaries of equal social membership, and how these boundaries interact across the constitutional structure. The study highlights three observations in support of its conclusion that constitutional asymmetry presents a challenge to a national model of membership: constituent polities of the asymmetries under examination allocate social rights primarily by reference to residence, thus lending (qualified) support to transnational and a-national theories of membership; differentiated social rights enjoyed by a particular sub-set of nationals are incompatible with the presumed equality of nationals under a national model of membership, resulting in the perception of inequity and discrimination; and the interdependence of membership competences across the constitutional asymmetry means that it is no longer possible for a polity to exclusively determine the boundaries of social membership.

Interlinking vital aspects of the legal, economic, political and social competencies of its participating member states the European Union as it is presently constituted represents a unique experiment in the development of a new type of supranational political system. Driven by the accelerating processes of globalisation and actioned through a variety of formal and informal mechanisms European integration is slowly shifting the centre of political authority to a new supranational European level. The challenge for the European Union is to reconcile these developments and create an institutional framework that provides democratic legitimacy promotes equality, social inclusion and social justice and creates a political system that can recognise and accommodate the differences inherent in an increasingly multi-cultural society. Recognising the close inter-relationship between the effects of integration and the exercise of meaningful political participation, the European Commission has explicitly identified European citizenship as the mechanism to legitimise continued integration. The purpose of this research is to analyse the implications of this decision and to explore whether over time European citizenship has the potential to create and foster a distinct European identity which can promote a genuine and meaningful form of participatory post-national citizenship based outside the nation state. Drawing together both integration and citizenship theory into a new synthesis, the research is seeking to develop a new syncretic model of integration that can satisfactorily explain both the complexity and sophistication of the European Union and explain the forces which are currently driving forward the momentum of integration towards an "ever closer" political Union.

This thesis considers the development of the concept of citizenship, both historically and in its supranational guise. It addresses the traditional models of citizenship that have arisen in the national arena before turning its focus to supranational citizenship. The development of quasi-citizenship rights at the European level between 1957 and 1992 are discussed whilst asking whether, in fact, these principles amounted to a de facto creation of citizenship as would be formally understood in a national model. Thereafter, post-1992 developments are considered via the activities of the European courts. The courts’ particularly activist role in expanding our understanding of Union citizenship by using existing Union legislation in imaginative ways is highlighted and used as a key factor in determining Union citizenship’s capacity to adapt and develop in the face of new challenges. This thesis plays particular attention to the non-Member State nationals who reside in Union territory and find themselves ostensibly deprived of citizenship rights despite being actively involve in the Union’s activities. Supranational citizenship is viewed through the unusual lens of stateless persons and this thesis suggests that Union citizenship does not live up to its ideals by excluding them from its understanding of the citizenry. It formulates a novel conception of rights-based residence, as opposed to nationality-based, supranational citizenship that is predicated on the Union’s heritage of respect for rights and would include Member State nationals, alongside third-country nationals, the stateless and refugees (who would struggle to gain recognition under a conventional citizenship paradigm), with the aspiration of rendering Union citizenship a more inclusive and rounded conception.