The End of Citizenship?

Part I of this Review challenges his view that the value of American citizenship is in decline. Part II critiques his discussion of the lines drawn by citizenship law-who is or can become a citizen-and what those lines mean for the nature of citizenship in the modem age. This Part urges that the lack of fit between our citizenship rules and the goal of organic community is hardly new; it was a feature of our citizenship law long before current globalization trends. Part III discusses the meaning of citizenship, and the basis for citizenship and immigration exclusions, in the context of contemporary thinking about citizenship and nationhood. It urges that the theoretical incoherence Spiro sees in the foundations of modem citizenship was also present before globalization and suggests that we can best address citizenship’s challenges by opening our borders broadly to people who want to become part of the American experiment.