Review (PDF) Beyond Citizenship: American Identity After Globalization
American identity has always been capacious as a concept but narrow in its application. Citizenship has mostly been about being here, either through birth or residence. The territorial premises for citizenship have worked to resolve the peculiar challenges of American identity. But globalization is detaching identity from location. What used to define American was rooted in American space. Now one can be anywhere and be an American, politically or culturally. Against that backdrop, it becomes difficult to draw the boundaries of human community in a meaningful way. Longstanding notions of democratic citizenship are becoming obsolete, even as we cling to them. Beyond Citizenship charts the trajectory of American citizenship and shows how American identity is unsustainable in the face of globalization. Peter J. Spiro describes how citizenship law once reflected and shaped the American national character. Spiro explores the histories of birthright citizenship, naturalization, dual citizenship, and how those legal regimes helped reinforce an otherwise fragile national identity. But on a shifting global landscape, citizenship status has become increasingly divorced from any sense of actual community on the ground. As the bonds of citizenship dissipate, membership in the nation-state becomes less meaningful. The rights and obligations distinctive to citizenship are now trivial. Naturalization requirements have been relaxed, dual citizenship embraced, and territorial birthright citizenship entrenched--developments that are all irreversible. Loyalties, meanwhile, are moving to transnational communities defined in many different ways: by race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, and sexual orientation. These communities, Spiro boldly argues, are replacing bonds that once connected people to the nation-state, with profound implications for the future of governance. Learned, incisive, and sweeping in scope, Beyond Citizenship offers a provocative look at how globalization is changing the very definition of who we are and where we belong.
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press (February 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195152182
ISBN-13: 978-0195152180
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 0.9 x 6.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,107,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #196 in Books > Law > Administrative Law > Emigration & Immigration #870 in Books > Textbooks > Law > Constitutional Law #1301 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civics & Citizenship
The book provides a great overview of the concept of citizenship and the history of citizenship law in the U.S. The book thoroughly explores the implications of liberalizing the citizenship paradigm. I wish its conclusions were more positive it does not offer specific solutions for policymakers to take because he feels the concept of citizenship is waning.
Good purchase!
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