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Civic Obligations and Social Rights. A Legal and Social History, 18th-21st Century

This research project explores the historical genealogy of the tension between ‘rights’ and ‘duties’ since the end of the eighteenth century. Can we write a history of citizenship, not simply from the point of view of the extension of rights, but also in the light of the extension of the legal, social and moral obligations that underpin the materiality of these rights? What were the debates, political conflicts and social resistance that marked the gradual extension of compulsory military service, compulsory taxation, compulsory schooling, compulsory vaccination, compulsory social insurance, etc., in Europe, the United States and in (post)colonial situations? Based on a comparative and global historical approach, this project combines the analysis of constitutional sources with that of power mechanisms and social practices, using a vast collection of national and international archives.