Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Linking key debates about citizenship with discussions about migration and ethnicity, Citizenship and Migration examines the new challenges globalization is creating throughout the world. As boundaries are being blurred and nation-state powers eroded, millions of people have multiple citizenship and millions more lack citizenship of their country of residence. Increasing numbers of citizens do not belong, thus undermining the national state as the central site of democracy. Particularly attentive to the impact of globalization on the conventional, legal definitions of citizenship, this study also recognizes that global integration has unleashed strong forces of multiculturalism.
Synopsis
In modern democratic societies, citizens possess a wide range of civil, political and social rights, which are balanced by obligations to community and state. Ideally, citizens belong to one nation-state, while the nation-state is inclusive of all the people living on its territory. This has never been a reality. Discrimination based on class, gender, ethnicity, race or religion has always resulted in minority groups being considered incapable of belonging; they are therefore either denied citizenship or forced to undergo a process of cultural assimilation. The problem escalates as globalization erodes the powers of the nation-state, leaving millions of people disenfranchised because they cannot become citizens in their country of residence. Many of those who are granted formal membership of the nation-state do not receive the rights which should go with this, while porous boundaries and multiple identities undermine the whole concept of cultural belonging to a homogeneous nation. New approaches to citizenship are needed, which take account of collective identities and accept that, with growing international mobility, many people now belong to more than one society. If democracy is to be maintained, then all members of society must have a political voice as a citizen. Castles and Davidson explore these important questions and issues in a wide-ranging and extremely engaging analysis that considers citizenship, difference and democracy both in theoretical and applied terms. Offering a truly international framework, they examine citizenship in both western countries and the Asia-Pacific region and draw on important and illuminating examples throughout to illustrate and extend their argument.
Synopsis
This book argues that basing citizenship on singular and individual membership in a nation-state is no longer adequate, since the nation-state model itself is being severely eroded. It examines issues of citizenship and difference in the Asia-Pacific region.