Review of Three Immigration Books: BEYOND SOVEREIGNTY AND UNIFORMITY: THE CHALLENGES FOR EQUAL CITIZENSHIP IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

The January issue of the Harvard Law Review has a book review BEYOND SOVEREIGNTY AND UNIFORMITY: THE CHALLENGES FOR EQUAL CITIZENSHIP IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by Rogers M. Smith 122 Harv. L. Rev. 907 (2009).  It reviews

AMERICANS IN WAITING: THE LOST STORY OF IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES. By Hiroshi Motomura. New York: Oxford Univ. Press 2006. Pp. 254.

BEYOND CITIZENSHIP: AMERICAN IDENTITY AFTER GLOBALIZATION. By Peter J. Spiro. New York: Oxford Univ. Press 2008. Pp. 194.

THE CITIZEN AND THE ALIEN: DILEMMAS OF CONTEMPORARY MEMBERSHIP. By Linda Bosniak. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press 2008. Pp. xii, 222

Here is a summary:

“Part I of this Review details the historic transformations in citizenship that merit consideration today. Part II examines the aims of these three works and evaluates the extent to which the authors realize them, while also exploring how the authors’ arguments reflect and illuminate the transformations now occurring. Finally, in Part III, this Review contends that while these works make important contributions on their own terms, and also help readers grasp the emerging horizon of citizenship issues, they do more to clear the path toward that horizon than to take us far into the uncharted territories ahead. In order to undertake all the intellectual, legal, and political work now required in regard to citizenship, it is necessary to confront the political challenges of building enduring, effective forms of community that can thrive in a world of less than fully sovereign states and of many profoundly differentiated forms of political membership residing both within and beyond state boundaries.”

KJ