TORONTO, October 4, 2002 -- A new book on the emerging field of Citizenship Studies says the plural nationalities characteristic of the 21st century are forcing a revision of the notion of citizenship, and European nations and Japan are looking to multinational societies like Canada and Australia for new state practices.
The Handbook of Citizenship Studies (Sage, UK, 2002), edited by York University Professor Engin F. Isin, and University of Cambridge Professor Bryan S. Turner, is the first volume in the field that pulls together the range of scholarly work on new social claims for rights and recognition under the rubric "citizenship studies".
"There is certainly a significant change taking place," state the editors, noting that it is now widely accepted that countries have to accommodate some form of "differentiated citizenship", because the modern liberal idea of citizenship born of the nation-state is inadequate. They cite as progress a revised German law that recognizes the rights of minorities, and French laws recognizing the rights of refugees. But they caution against false optimism, noting that even some basic citizenship rights are "remarkably recent", such as the right of women to vote (1902 in Australia, 1918 in Canada, 1920 in the United States, 1928 in the UK, 1944 in France). They also note an intensifying xenophobia directed against "refugees", immigrants, and "foreigners".
Global migrations, the creation of supranational bodies like the European Union, and the codification of international human rights norms have prompted an increasing recognition of citizenship as a transnational matter, say the editors. But it is still nation states that enact laws of citizenship, and the effect has been to invest individuals with binding affiliations to two or more states. They point out that the issues that face multinational and settler societies like Canada and Australia now also face states that originally imagined themselves as ethnically homogeneous, such as France, Germany and Japan.
The editors see a role for citizenship studies in bringing to public attention the injustices suffered by peoples and groups around the world in states with varying degrees of democracy, enabling them to claim recognition in national and transnational law and practices.
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For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Engin Isin | Susan Bigelow |
| Division of Social Science | Media Relations |
| York University | York University |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 20346 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22091 |
| isin@yorku.ca | sbigelow@yorku.ca |
YU/086/02
