Comparative study of the notion of citizenship from the vantage point of Farabi, Alasdair MacIntyre, and John Rawls

How the reciprocal rights and responsibilities of citizens and the government are one of the most essential topics in the soci​al sciences and politics, particularly in contemporary societies. Parallel to the transformation of political and social structures in societies and the emergence of the modern government, the concept of citizenship and the role of the citizen as one of the most crucial social elements in the modern society, as well as the political and social rights and reciprocal responsibilities of the government and citizens, became the focus of social scientists and political philosophers. In this regard, we will analyze the issue of citizenship from the perspectives of Alasdair MacIntyre and John Rawls as representatives of the two approaches, collectivism and liberalism, and compare Farabi's views to these. Farabi's formulation of relations draws people from Medina with the concept of “Ahal al-Madina.” The comparative study of the terms “citizenship” and “citizen” allows for a more accurate comprehension of the relationships between individuals in civil life. In this study, a descriptive, analytic, and comparative investigation of the fundamental components of the concept of citizenship and its related dimensions in the thought of Farabi, Alasdair MacIntyre, and John Rawls has been undertaken. The findings of this study indicate that Rawls and McIntyre have profoundly different views on the framework of the concept of citizenship. However, in certain aspects, such as the priority of the public good over individual rights and interests, Farabi’s and McIntyre’s ideas are similar and closely related.