Reflection & Debate initiates academically inspired discussions on issues that are on the current policy agenda.

The historical transformations of Dutch citizenship are assessed in this article in light of two aspects. One concerns the dimensions and layers of citizenship; the other pertains to the relative stress laid on either formal or moral citizenship. We illustrate how citizenship was broadened from civic to political, social and cultural rights. Then we discuss the recent moralization of citizenship in the context of Dutch debates on immigrant integration. We illustrate how the relative stress on moral citizenship therein pertains to a virtual disenfranchisement of non-native Dutch citizens.

This paper discusses contemporary public space in light of two developments: a privatisation of space, and a spectacularization of space. Over against these processes, it argues that public space is able to provide two regulatory functions for social life: (1) anonimization; (2) public-formation. The paper concludes with a discussion of 'public familiarity' as one possible way of mediating these two apparently contradictory demands on public space.