Local Citizenship in a Global Age

Although it is usually assumed that only the federal government can confer citizenship, localities often give residents who are noncitizens at the federal level the benefits of local citizenship: access to medical care, education, housing, security, labor and consumer markets, and even voting rights. In this work, Kenneth A. Stahl demonstrates that while the existence of these 'noncitizen citizens' has helped to reconcile competing commitments within liberal democracy to equality and community, the advance of globalization and the rise of nationalist political leaders like Donald Trump has caused local and federal citizenship to clash. For nationalists, localities' flexible approach to citizenship is a Trojan horse undermining state sovereignty from within, while liberals see local citizenship as the antidote to a reactionary ethnic nationalism. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand why citizenship has become one of the most important issues in national politics today.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; Part I. Citizenship Federalism: 1. Three models of citizenship; 2. Local and federal citizenship; 3. A short history of local citizenship; Part II. 'Noncitizen Citizens': Three Case Studies of Local and Federal Citizenship: 4. Local citizenship and woman suffrage; 5. Local citizenship for noncitizen residents; 6. Local citizenship for nonresident landowners; 7. Globalization and the collapsing distinction between local and federal citizenship; Part III. Race, Space, Place and Urban Citizenship: 8. A return to urban citizenship?; 9. Republican citizenship; 10. Postmodern citizenship; 11. Differentiated citizenship.

About the Author :
Kenneth A. Stahl is a Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental, Land Use, and Real Estate Law certificate program at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law. His research combines doctrinal analysis with insights from disciplines including urban sociology, geography, economics, and the humanities. Professor Stahl's work has been widely published in many law reviews.

Review :
'Drawing from political theory, social science, and law, Local Citizenship in a Global Age provides an in-depth account of the evolving role of cities, the tension between community and mobility, and the complex nature of citizenship in our era. This is an important book for anyone interested in local government.' Richard Briffault, Columbia University, Author of State and Local Government Law, 'A refreshing take on citizenship and the many ways that it is constructed. Challenging the traditional focus on nation-states, Stahl presents a convincing account of how membership and belonging at the local level has and continues to shape our understanding of what it means to be a citizen. A powerful antidote for our divided times.' Rick Su, University of North Carolina 'In a moment of fundamental disagreement between cities that embrace global interconnection and nations bent on the impossible task of walling themselves off, Ken Stahl has given us the definitive word on the nature of modern citizenship. Local Citizenship in a Global Age is a clarion call to reinvent what belonging and equality can mean from the bottom up.' Nestor Davidson, Albert A. Walsh Professor of Real Estate, Land Use and Property Law, Fordham University 'An extraordinarily timely and important book that makes us rethink the nature of citizenship. Stahl is thoughtful and careful, and his ideas are wildly provocative.' Christopher Serkin, Vanderbilt University, and author of The Law of Property