Deploying the concept of global citizenship: Christine Hobden on citizenship in a globalised world

Abstract

Citizenship is a concept that is ubiquitous to contemporary senses of political being but not universally understood – and certainly not understood in depth. Christine Hobden’s Citizenship in a Globalised World attempts to grapple with this question. As the title suggests, a central concern of this work is the operation of citizenship across – or more accurately expressed “above” – borders. From the outset, she evinces a suspicion of the borders that regulate citizenship in its common understanding. “Contemporary citizens,” she writes, “appear to use citizenship as a framework to turn inward and to shore up the borders at their backs. We live in an era where it is possible for the super-wealthy to buy citizenship and for thousands to die in pursuit of it. In a deeply unequal world, the apparent value of citizenship varies drastically between states. While this reality is contested by many, on the whole, it tends to lead to a widespread effort to protect one’s more “valuable”citizenship from would-be citizens who are deemed unworthy and unable to contribute” (Hobden, 2021, p.3). As the tenor of this extract makes clear, Hobden’s argument is framed around a concern for a model of citizenship that embodies and promotes justice. The book is both an analysis and a work of advocacy.