Ruud Welten

Bio: Ruud Welten is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Global citizenship & Tourism. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 24 citations.

Tourism and Citizenship: Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities in the Global Order

Abstract: Raoul Bianchi, Marcus Stephenson (2013). Tourism and Citizenship: Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities in the Global Order. London and New York: Routledge, 280 pages. ISBN 978-0-415-70738-1At a time when it seems that we "are living in an increasingly mobile world and that international travel has become more 'democratic'" (p. 2), a book that challenges these assumptions in the light of recent global changes and increasingly complex and unequal cross-border movements seems appropriate. By examining human mobility through the lens of global citizenship, the book illustrates the different flows of international travel and the consequences for the ways in which understanding of citizenship is imagined, reconstructed and institutionalized. The authors contend that "international travel represents a quintessential expression of a more democratic, mobile and inclusive world order of consumer citizens" (p.3). In its place, they consider these changes in citizenship definitions and practices to be caused by a range of factors that go beyond static rights and duties controlled and enforced within a geo-political framework and challenge the libertarian stance that participating in international tourism is an indicator of a 'civilized life' or (global) citizenship. After a comprehensive introduction the book commences with six chapters to illustrate the manifold relationships between tourism and citizenship, with a particular focus on the alignments between the right to freedom of movement and the right to travel.Chapter 1 presents a comprehensive overview of the main concepts and theoretical viewpoints that have historically framed our understandings of citizenship. By using Marshall's modern conception of citizenship as a starting point, the chapter shows how the expansion of leisure and travel was closely tied to state interventions and social programs that underpinned leisure and travel as social rights and citizenship benefits to be enjoyed by all members. However, from the 1980s onwards the role of the state as benevolent protector has become progressively undermined and transformed by an emergent neoliberal agenda, which "fuelled the commodification of leisure and 'free time' and the shift toward more market-oriented tourism provision" (p. 35). Consequently, the chapter illustrates how the 'marketization of tourism' nowadays has overshadowed the social dimension of travel to a point at which the provision of subsidized or low-cost leisure and travel is perceived as a market distortion and a potential risk for economic growth and development.Chapter 2 continues with a thorough analysis of the transformation of citizenship from a modern liberal conception "anchored within the confines of the sovereign territorial nationstate towards a much more fluid and multilayered set of ideas informed and constituted within a variety of post-national discourses of cosmopolitanism, cultural rights and multicultural citizenship" (p. 46). The chapter brings forward 'mobile citizenship' as a framework through which to understand the various ways in which tourism has become a major feature of global mobility and transnational notions of citizenship, realigning the balance of rights and duties beyond the traditional confines of the nation state. Drawing on several examples and recent studies, the chapter illustrates that the rapid globalization of capital and markets has major implications for the expansive nature of mobility and freedom, especially noticeably in the emergence of 'new' global elite classes. Conversely, the authors give a sharp account of the growing population of so-called 'nontourists', those residing within national boundaries that are immobile and/or stateless. Bearing in mind the effect of international tourism on these opposing groups, they argue that the capacity to be mobile does not instantly translate to notions of global citizenship or cosmopolitanism; instead they advocate the acknowledgement of flexible citizenship or more rooted forms of cosmopolitanism. …

Degrowing tourism: rethinking tourism

Abstract: Concerns with growth have steadily advanced since the Limits to Growth report due particularly to human impacts on the natural environment. Since that time, neoliberal capitalism has become increas...

Overtourism and degrowth: a social movements perspective

Abstract: Overtourism is a contemporary phenomenon, rapidly evolving and underlined by what is evidently excessive visitation to tourist destinations. This is obvious in the seemingly uncontrolled and unplan...

Justice and ethics: towards a new platform for tourism and sustainability

Abstract: In times of upheaval and uncertainty justice has come to the fore as a key principle to guide tourism development and policy. Justice is being sought by individuals, groups and societies, as vulner...

Borderless Worlds for Whom? : Ethics, Moralities and Mobilities

Abstract: 1. Introduction: borders, ethics, and mobilities Anssi Paasi, Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola, Jarkko Saarinen, and Kaj Zimmerbauer Part I: Borders in a borderless world 2. Borderless worlds and beyond: challenging the state-centric cartographies Anssi Paasi 3. Imagining a borderless world Harald Bauder 4. Borders, distance, politics Paolo Novak Part II: Politics of inclusion and exclusion 5. 'Borderless' Europe and Brexit: young European migrant accounts of media uses and moralities Aija Lulle 6. Everyday bordering, healthcare, and the politics of belonging in contemporary Britain Kathryn Cassidy 7. 'Delay and Neglect': the everyday geopolitics of humanitarian borders Elisa Pascucci, Jouni Hakli and Kirsi Pauliina Kallio 8. Asylum reception and the politicization of national identity in Finland: a gender perspective Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola Part III: Contested mobilities and encounters 9. Tourism, border politics, and the fault lines of mobility Raoul V. Bianchi and Marcus L. Stephenson 10. Commodification of contested borderscapes for tourism development: viability, community representation, and equity of relic Iron Curtain and Sudetenland heritage tourism landscapes Arie Stoffelen and Dominique Vanneste 11. Contested mobilities across the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border: the case of Sheung Shui J.J. Zhang Part IV: Borders, security, politics 12. Trade, Trump, Security, and Ethics: The Canada-US Border in Continental Perspective Heather N. Nicol and Karen G. Everett 13. Ontological (in)security: the EU's bordering dilemma and neighbourhood Jussi P. Laine and James W. Scott 14. An ethical code for cross-border governance: what does the European Union say on the ethics of cross-border cooperation? Elisabetta Nadalutti 15. The role of `nature' at the EU maritime borders: agency, ethics, and accountability Estela Schindel 16. Afterword: borders are there to be crossed (but not by everybody) Noel B. Salazar

The rights to tourism: reflections on social tourism and human rights

Abstract: There is an increasing emphasis in tourism research on the role that tourism plays in enriching the lives of tourists, including impacts on health, well-being, happiness and quality of life. Tourism is increasingly being conceived as a necessity, rather than a luxury. This is especially so in the advanced economies of the world, but also increasingly in the emerging economies which have driven growth in international tourism demand throughout the recent global financial crisis. This leads to two interconnected issues: how to ensure that opportunities to participate in tourism exist for everyone in society, and whether access to opportunities can or should be considered a right. This paper discusses these issues by considering the position of tourism as a right and in the context of research on social tourism. It argues that tourism can be considered a form of social right, rather than a fundamental human right.