This is what leads to the incongruity between the legitimation and organization of postnational citizenship, which has paradoxical implications for the exercise of citizenship rights. Rather than denying the certitude of conflict and contestation for rights, postnational citizenship draws attention to the multilayered and diverse forms that they take and new arenas in which they are enacted.These developments have significant implications for the notions of identity and rights, on the one hand, and the organization and practice of citizenship, on the other.
Citizenship definition, the state of being vested with the rights, privileges, and duties of a citizen. Nor does postnational citizenship presume public spheres free of conflict or devoid of exclusions. The postwar reification of personhood and individual rights expands the boundaries of political community by legitimating individuals' claims beyond their membership status in a particular nation-state. Learn more about citizenship.
“Selective migration” and “integration” constitute the core facets of this new orientation. The Constitution provides that federal courts can hear "Controversies … between Citizens of different States." The phrase "Citizens of different States" includes citizens of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and Guam.
Citizens have certain rights, duties, and responsibilities that are denied or only partially extended to noncitizens in the country. Such interactions might be intensified by advances in international transportation and communication technologies, but postnational citizenship does not imply the necessary advent of transnational solidarities or communal bonds, or the formation of “diasporic” identities and interests (Soysal 2000).Second, postnational citizenship does not imply the “withering of the nation-state” or the declining purpose of the state. Once considered a US idiosyncrasy, citizenship tests and oath-taking are now touted as indispensable steps towards integration throughout Europe.In concluding, I address three major confusions that the discussions of postnational citizenship seem to raise.Given the heightened preoccupation with the immigration-security nexus (not only in the context of “terrorism” but also urban riots) in the first decade of the 21st century, the urgency assigned to social cohesion in European policy circles is not surprising. A complementary development is the emergence of multilevel polities. If his or her parents are from a different country, provisions of treaty or international law apply. Like any form of rights, they are subject to retraction and negation.
Through massive decolonization in the postwar period and the subsequent work of the international organizations such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the Council of Europe, the universal right to “one's own culture” has gained increasing legitimacy, and collective identity has been redefined as a category of human rights.