Earned citizenship

[John Bentley]

I have a question I'm hoping someone can help me answer. Has there ever been a society where citizenship was earned in some fashion, not simply granted as a birthright?

[LeFevre]

Originally posted by John Bentley
I have a question I'm hoping someone can help me answer. Has there ever been a society where citizenship was earned in some fashion, not simply granted as a birthright?

Heinlein's Starship Troopers! IIRC couldn't non-Romans (people of the many barbarians just brought into the Empire) gain citizenship through martial service? Or was that a duty of all non-Roman citizens to serve?

Where is that busy bee JK at?

[John Bentley]

I'm pretty sure that a lot of societies granted citizenship to people who fought in the army during wartime. However, all of those societies granted citizenship to children of citizens as a birthright, as far as I know. I'm wondering if any society granted the privileges of citizenship only to those who qualified in some fashion, whether they were born there or not.

Yes, I have read Starship Troopers. Also, Pournelle and Stirling's The Prince . Both envision a society that I am describing. I was just wondering if it had ever been actually tried out in history at some point. The latter novel is very pertinent for today, in that it is about a standard mercenary army using field tactics to fight and defeat terrorists. Lots of good philosophy about terrorism and how it must be fought.

[yersinia29]

I am aware of no process other than possibly serving in the military