For a Constitution of the Earth

the guarantee of fundamental rights beyond the limits of citizenship and the role of education

Abstract

Historically, civil, social and political rights have been constituted as formative of citizenship status, in a way that the ownership of these fundamental rights concerns the belonging to a particular nation-state. However, with the advent of contemporaneity and the challenges of a globalized market and an interconnected and interdependent world, the need arises for a guarantee of rights beyond the spatial and political limits of the existing citizenship. Luigi Ferrajoli, when theorizing a Constitution of the Earth, presents the demand for a global citizenship, as a possible solution for the effective guarantee of fundamental rights. In this perspective, the present article seeks to explore the possibility of a global citizenship, in face of the universal constitutionalism proposed by Ferrajoli, carrying out, for that, bibliographical research. It begins, therefore, with a brief history of the formation of citizenship. Subsequently, in a second moment, the spatial and political limits intrinsic to citizenship linked to the nation-state are questioned. Then, Luigi Ferrajoli's criticisms and proposals are presented. A posteriori, the role of education in the formation of global citizenship is highlighted, as a necessary element for the fruition of civil, social and political rights. It is concluded that the proposal to create a Constitution of the Earth, in which there is a rupture with the current understanding of citizenship and a break with the limits imposed on it by the nation-state, is not utopian, but rather becomes a believable solution. However, to walk this long path, education has and will play an extremely important role.