Immigration Article of the Day: Citizenship and the Boundaries of the Constitution by Kim Rubenstein and Niamh Lenagh-Maguire

Citizenship and the Boundaries of the Constitution Kim Rubenstein Australian National University (ANU) – College of Law and Niamh Lenagh-Maguire Australian National University (ANU)

Abstract: Citizenship is a prime site for comparison between different constitutional systems, for the idea of citizenship, and the ideals it is taken to represent, go to the heart of how states are constituted and defined. Who is governed by the constitution? What are the boundaries of the constitution? The definition of the class of ‘citizens’ of a state and the identification of their rights, privileges and responsibilities is one way to answer these questions, and is a core function of national constitutions and a central concern of public law. In this chapter, we consider several written constitutions and attempt to convey some of the diversity in constitutional approaches to this fundamental and universal project for nation states.

This is a chapter in THE RESEARCH HANDBOOK IN COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, Rosalind Dixon, Tom Ginsburg, eds., Edward Elgar, 2011.

KJ