Even though an individual’s right to legal identity has been internationally codified, in certain instances, the legal identity and associated documents may lack widespread international... Show moreEven though an individual’s right to legal identity has been internationally codified, in certain instances, the legal identity and associated documents may lack widespread international recognition. This is the case in aspirant (de facto) states such as Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. This paper argues that certain legal identities become liminal due to the nonrecognition of the conferring authority, and/or the associated legal identity documents. The recognition of legal identity documents can change based on where a person is located (territorial jurisdiction), the administrative authority issuing the documents, and the authority assessing the legitimacy of the conferred legal identity documents. Show less
Moving past the literature on states granting migrant voting rights, in this article I focus on individuals exercising these rights in order to question the connections between (non)citizenship,... Show moreMoving past the literature on states granting migrant voting rights, in this article I focus on individuals exercising these rights in order to question the connections between (non)citizenship, political membership, and participation in contemporary societies. With over 120 countries worldwide having enfranchised migrants in some form, the binary of ‘here’ and ‘there’ is insufficient to categorize and study migrant political engagement. This article contains a new typology to classify the four options of migrant voting: immigrant (only in the destination country), emigrant (only in the origin country), dual transnational (in both), and abstention (in neither). While emigrant voting requires citizenship, immigrant noncitizen voting does not, so active noncitizen voting weakens the defining dimensions of citizenship as a concept. As a first application, I analyze differences between individuals pertaining to each of the four types, based on a 2017 survey of 680 migrants in Chile since this country grants extensive migrant suffrage rights. Show less
Citizenship is a difficult concept to apply to non-Western societies.The idea of citizenship has its origins in Ancient Athens and Republican Rome, its modern form having been shaped by the French... Show moreCitizenship is a difficult concept to apply to non-Western societies.The idea of citizenship has its origins in Ancient Athens and Republican Rome, its modern form having been shaped by the French Revolution and the nationalisms of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe. Yet the idea of a social contract between membersof a society and their leaders is also found in non-Western societies. The notion of integrated rights and duties of free individualshas existed for centuries among the Bugis and Makasar peoplesof South Sulawesi, Indonesia. In this paper, concepts and practices developed by the Bugis and Makasar are compared against ClassicalGreek and Roman citizenship, and the status of Bugis women is briefly examined. In conclusion, it is argued that an important contractual principle that has its origins in patron-client relations was fundamental to the foundation of the South Sulawesi states and to their economic and social well-being. Show less
Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land rights rarely empowers marginalized communities. This article develops an explanation for why this... Show moreDespite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land rights rarely empowers marginalized communities. This article develops an explanation for why this formal recognition of community rights actually has little substantive impact on local struggles over land in Indonesia. Employing almost two years of fieldwork on how rural communities employ indigeneity-based land claims in South Sulawesi, it argues that claims for land rights on the basis of indigeneity are settled not simply on the basis of law, but also on that of the relative bargaining positions and the character of informal linkages between communities, their mediators and local authorities. Indigenous status therefore must be understood as a privilege most likely to be obtained by those groups with relatively strong connections to influential state actors. In contrast, communities that are in conflict with local state actors tend be excluded from obtaining the status of indigeneity and hence the state is likely to deny them their land rights claims. Show less
This article analyses political debates about civic integration policies in the Netherlands, so as to identify different conceptions of the role of the state in ensuring social cohesion by... Show moreThis article analyses political debates about civic integration policies in the Netherlands, so as to identify different conceptions of the role of the state in ensuring social cohesion by governing diversity. Drawing on the literature on party systems, it presents an analysis of political party positions on the role of the state in civic integration along two dimensions: economic distribution on the one hand, and sociocultural governance on the other hand. I find that while the large majority of Dutch political parties adopt authoritarian positions on the sociocultural axis in favour of state intervention to protect Dutch culture and identity, their positions diverge significantly on the classic economic Left-Right dimension. The most contentious issue in Dutch civic integration politics is whether the state, the market or individual migrants should be responsible for financing and organising courses. Thus, this article proposes an innovative model for analysing the politics of citizenship, which enables us to comprehend how citizenship policies are shaped not only by views on how identity and culture relate to social cohesion, but also by diverging perspectives on socio-economic justice. Show less
