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prominently in green debates. As Jonathan Porritt noted ‘by industrialism, I mean adherence to the belief that human needs can only be met through permanent expansion of the process of production and consumption – regardless of the damage done to the planet, to the rights of future generations . . . The often unspoken values of industrialism are premised on the notion that material gain is quite simply more important to more
sort of country you want to live in, what sort of future you, your friends, family and future generations might have, then you will have thought about these issues, and will want to pursue your ideas further. We do not presume to provide answers to these questions. We hope only to provide the beginnings of a structure of core ideas and concepts that overtly or covertly influence the political debate in
–187). I find this an attractive proposal. A lot of details would have to be worked out. Should the representatives of citizens who are not members of the demos have veto power or rather the power of legislative proposal, or both? Would the powers of such special representatives be limited to certain policy areas that are specifically relevant for children? If we consider children's interests as continuous with those of future generations of
explicitly stating in the preamble that ‘[e]njoyment of these rights entail responsibilities and duties [especially the provisions on solidarity] with regard to other persons, the human community and to future generations’. Arguably, all the above proposals are easier said than done. But if properly institutionalized, they would bring about an EU citizenship policy proper, as they ultimately depend on the political will of the member state executives, rather than on an overarching European volonté générale at the grassroots. In this way also, the Union would be equipped to
future generations of citizens in their policy preferences. Second, birthright citizenship depoliticizes the determination of membership and turns it into a quasi-natural social fact. It constrains opportunities for rulers to manipulate citizenship by excluding adversaries and handing out membership as a special favour to loyal supporters. Birthright citizenship prevents also that the basic composition of the citizenry is exposed to the