Tendayi Bloom

Theorising noncitizenship: concepts, debates and challenges

Abstract Existing political theory, particularly which deals with justice and/or rights, has long assumed citizenship as a core concept. Noncitizenship, if it is considered at all, is generally defined merely as the negation or deprivation of citizenship. As such, it is difficult to examine successfully the status of noncitizens, obligations towards them, and the nature of their role in political systems. This article addresses this critical gap by defining the theoretical problem that noncitizenship presents and demonstrating why it is an urgent concern. It surveys the contributions to the special issue for which the article is an introduction, drawing on cross-cutting themes and debates to highlight the importance of theorising noncitizenship due to both the problematic gap that exists in the theoretical literature, and the real world problems created as a result of noncitizenship which are not currently successfully addressed. Finally, the article discusses key future directions for the theorisation of noncitizenship.

Examining hidden coercion at state borders: why carrier sanctions cannot be justified

Sanctions placed upon airlines and other operators transporting persons without the required paperwork are called ‘carrier sanctions’. They constitute a key example of how border control mechanisms are currently being outsourced, privatized, delegated, and moved from the border itself to new physical locations. These practices can lead to a phenomenon referred to in this paper as ‘hidden coercion’. This paper argues that, while hidden coercion is commonplace in the reality of migration policy in most states, it is so far neglected in theoretical discussions of state coercion. Moreover, the discussion of carrier sanctions demonstrates that this neglect is problematic, since hidden coercion is not justifiable even within a framework that legitimizes state border coercion.

The business of noncitizenship

Abstract Private actors play an increasing role in mediating the relationship between States and noncitizens and even in creating or perpetuating exclusions associated with noncitizenship. This paper offers a way to analyse the forms of engagement of the for-profit private sector in migration control and asks what it means for how noncitizenship is constructed. It presents the private sector as acting like a buffer, altering whether and how individuals may engage with a State constructing what noncitizenship means within a State’s territory, and removing so-constructed individuals from a relationship with that State. It shows how this may occur directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly. The paper addresses two main concerns: the impact on the State-noncitizen relationship and whether there are some areas of the relationship between the State and the noncitizen that should not be so-delegated. It argues that privatised migration control raises problems for standard justifications of migration control and noncitizenship construction.

European Union and Commonwealth Free Movement: A Historical-Comparative Perspective

Between 1948 and 1962, approximately 600 million Commonwealth citizens had the right to enter the UK. This number decreased throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as a series of Acts of Parliament altered the rights and definitions of Commonwealth citizens. To date, the European Union has extended the right to over 500 million citizens and residents of member-states to enter the UK. This new trend has been met with perceptions of threat to national cultural and economic resources. Reactions to Commonwealth immigration were similarly negative. This paper examines parallels between EU immigration today and Commonwealth immigration of the past. It argues that the fears expressed, both in the literature of the 1960s and 1970s and in contemporary society, reflect a fear of persons who are seen as ‘other’ but who must, by law, be defined as fellow-citizens and afforded the attendant rights. We argue that theorists of free and freer movement must acknowledge these local concerns in order to strengthen their theory and enable a more liberal treatment of immigration policy in the UK and beyond.

Migration in a World of Citizens, Nonsensical Morality and Academia’s Role in Addressing Hidden Poverty

In a world that is built upon the logic of citizenship, the fact of an unrecognized noncitizen relationship between an individual and a State gives rise to some problematic outcomes. This chapter presents two main ones, using some extreme real-world cases, and explores the particular role of academics in resolving these difficulties. First, the chapter shows how a nonsensical morality towards noncitizens within their State of noncitizenship can develop. This is demonstrated through the example of some irregular immigrants who may find facts of life nonsensically illegalized, a problem even more basic than human rights concerns. Second, the chapter presents how the non-recognition of some persons who do not have any form of citizenship or citizen-like relationship with the State where they live gives rise to a form of intractable hidden poverty impairing access even to basic rights. This chapter then goes on to explore how academia can play a special role in addressing this, emphasizing four main aspects. First, academia itself is dependent upon the possibility of alternative forms of individual-State relationships. Second, academics have the space and time to research topics that may otherwise go un-explored. Third, academics, if they draw a conclusion that something that they have found is unjust, have an obligation to try to correct it. Fourth, the status of the academic, as interlocutor, and as legitimizer of interlocutors, gives rise to a special role in enabling often silenced voices to be heard.