ABSTRACT
‘Noncitizenism’ refers to the move away from what we can call ‘methodological citizenism’, and towards a theory that recognises the noncitizen relationship. For the most part the story told in liberal political theory is the story of citizens, or people insofar as they relate as citizens. Noncitizens have always been there in the background. This is because the creative process that gives us the State and citizenship also produces noncitizenship. Today, some noncitizens are on the territory of the States with which they have noncitizen relationships, while others are found at their borders or in lands far away. In order to examine the nature of the relationships such individuals have with those States, we need to look for their commonalities. Left unacknowledged, noncitizenship today can make individuals destitute, 1 detained, 2 and even left to die 3 with impunity in and by States ostensibly built on liberal democratic principles. The failure to acknowledge noncitizenship makes people seem rightsless, 4 excludable, and 11worse. 5 Liberal theory, though various in interpretation, is based upon a commitment to the dignity of the individual and the notion that justice requires equality of liberty and respect (as well as solidarity). Yet, so long as a person needs citizenship, or quasi-citizenship (explained below), in order to be recognised, it looks like liberal theory is doomed to the inconsistency of excluding some ‘featherless bipeds’ from its scope. 6 This book does not deny the special relationship of citizenship. It draws attention to another special relationship, that of noncitizenship, which has been ignored for too long.
