Reconstructing citizenship (again)

Abstract

In a collaborative project, we argued that citizenship was always both ‘unfinished’ (imparfaite) and ‘under construction’ (en travaux). This contribution examines some of the ways in which citizenship continues to be unfinished and is in the process of being reconstructed. It highlights three particular tendencies that have dominated the processes–and the politics–of citizenship’s reconstruction: a deepening nationalisation of citizenship; an ensuing intensification of practices of ‘bordering’, even as borders become more mobile; and the subcontracting of the management of citizenship to agents and agencies ‘beyond’ the state.