Ciudadanía de la infancia en el sistema madrileño de protección

Resumo

From the 1990s decade, global discourses on children’s citizenship and participation rights, under the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, have been used as a frame of reference for policy makers, NGO’s initiatives and child researches. Consequently, they assert that children are citizens, conceiving them as social (political) actors and competent and participatory subjects. Nevertheless, children’s participation rights and citizenship are practiced in different national and local contexts. Indeed, these are limited -or facilitated- by political, economic, social and cultural structures and traditions, which determine, to a large extent, what (children’s) citizenship means in each context, how childhood is constructed by adults and institutions and the way that children live and experience these politics and constructions. Moreover, the way in which children’s citizenship and participation rights are guaranteed depends on how these are emphasized in different contexts or come into conflict with other principles or rights such as protection. This PhD research discusses children’s citizenship and participation rights in context, using data from qualitative research carried out in the Spanish and Madrilenian child protection system as a case study. To achieve this goal, at a theoretical level, this PhD research begins with a deep examination of the main contributions made by sociology of childhood and contemporary childreńs citizenship theories to children’s citizenship matter. The institutionalization process of childreńs rights and citizenship is also analysed, starting from the end of 18th Century until the present time in Western countries context, including the Spanish case...