Citizenship in the midst of transnational regimes of virtue

Abstract

Citizenship, as Sassen notes, is embedded in the nation-state, but by that logic cannot be “denationalized,” as she also claims in a contrarian move. While we can all agree that transnational regimes of virtue or corporate largess are extending protections and services to a variety of marginalized groups regardless of national borders, these regimes do not replace but rather seek to supplement citizenship orders. Human rights regimes do not displace citizenship because they do not exist as formal legal relationship with enforceable rights and obligations to a territorialized citizenry. By contrast, only states can enforce (human rights as) citizenship rights. Certain conceptualizations of citizenship can be influenced by the discourse of human rights (as has been the case in China), but the transnational regimes of virtue cannot disembed citizenship from the state.

Citation

Ong, A. (2009), "Citizenship in the midst of transnational regimes of virtue", Davis, D.E. and Go, J. (Ed.) Political Power and Social Theory (Political Power and Social Theory, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 301-307. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0198-8719(2009)0000020018