Law and Citizenship

Long confined to the study of nationality, citizenship was not always considered a major concern of social scientists. In recent decades, however, the concept of citizenship has generated significant interest and intellectual debate in a variety of academic contexts.

Law and Citizenship provides a framework for analyzing citizenship by paying attention to the borders and boundaries of citizenship regimes. These borders and boundaries are shifting because of immigration and refugee flows, changing movement of persons within economic communities and areas of free trade, and the rise of nationalist movements within multinational states. All of these shifts raise fundamental issues: How are traditional notions of citizenship erecting borders against those who are excluded? What are the impacts of changing notions of state, borders, and participation on our concepts of citizenship? Within territorial borders, to what extent are citizens able to participate, given that the principles of accountability, transparency, and representativeness remain ideals?

Law and Citizenship will be of interest to scholars and students in law and politics as well as to anyone interested in the idea of citizenship in contemporary society.

The Law Commission of Canada is an independent federal law reform agency that advises Parliament on how to improve and modernize Canada’s laws.