Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

This chapter aims to review recent theories of citizenship and attempts to relate them to the city. It focuses on the specific case of immigration and multiculturalism in the European city, mainly within the European Union. In recent years there has been much rethinking of citizenship, including the propagation of new concepts such as transnational, postnational, multicultural, and differentiated citizenship. Such debates have been generally associated with the national or state level, but some attention has also been given to the changing territorial conditions of citizenship. The European Union presents a particularly interesting situation, in which supranational cross-national and subnational territories can lay claim to political identity and cultural membership. If there is any substantial relationship between citizenship and non-national territories such as the city, then it is likely to be found within Europe.Citizenship is not what it used to be. Under the headline “Making a profit from portable patriotism,” Mike Fritz in the Los Angeles Times (April 6, 1998) reports on a Denver broker who markets Belizean citizenship over the World Wide Web. Most of his clients are Russians, who are attracted to Belizean visas because they provide access to the British Commonwealth. The broker notes other advantages to possessing a second passport, including the avoidance of creditors and ... log in or subscribe to read full text