The Citizen and the Alien: Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership Paperback - 2008

From the rear cover

"Linda Bosniak is one of the leading scholars on citizenship and alienage in the U.S. In this brilliant book she deploys her mastery of the subject in a manner that creates conceptual openings in the discourse on immigration. This allows her to discuss immigration in ways that also illuminate citizenship and personhood."--Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority, Rights

"As the relationship between national territory, regional identity, and global jurisdiction becomes increasingly complex, questions of citizenship become more pressing: What forms of belonging and exclusion emerge on the transnational landscape? How do we conceive of the rights of aliens in a global polity inhabited by, and indebted to, guest workers, migrants, and the undocumented? Linda Bosniak's outstanding book rises to this challenging situation with remarkable clarity and extends her inventive legal perspective to provide insightful reflections on cultural and ethical issues."--Homi K. Bhabha, Harvard University

"Citizenship is more than a legal status. In the literatures of American law and political theory, citizenship has accumulated multiple (even contradictory) meanings. Linda Bosniak illuminates those meanings, starting with the rhetorical use of citizenship as an avenue to inclusion and national unity, and as a foundation for constitutional equality. She also explores a colder region, where the idea of citizenship excludes aliens even when they contribute positively to our local and national communities. Noting that we have already accepted a degree of 'the citizenship of aliens, ' she forcefully argues for more. If you would study citizenship in America, read this book."--Kenneth Karst, UCLA Law School

"No other legal academic has confronted the divide of constitutional equality and citizenship's inherently exclusionary aspects as Linda Bosniak does in this book. It persuasively highlights the failure of most constitutional and political theorists to account for the boundedness of citizenship even as they aspire to its universality. The book brings a compelling new perspective to an important subject."--Peter J. Spiro, Temple University Law School

"This is a valuable work on the intersection of immigration law and the law applicable to resident aliens. This is almost certainly the most scholarly extended discussion of the linkage between those two fields yet written."--Mark Tushnet, Georgetown University Law School