Debates about citizenship tend to confuse more than they illuminate political discourse because they trade on two different conceptions whose relationship is not immediately apparent. Citizenship has legal meaning, which concerns an individual’s relationship to a particular government. However, citizenship can also invoke deeper moral claims regarding identity and the common ethical commitments that define a community. Various rights, obligations, and benefits can be attached to citizenship conceived both in juridical and moral terms. However, attending to the varieties of citizenship is difficult given the primacy of the modern state as a political unit. Upon examination, what conventional political debates illustrate – whether they concern economic distribution, cultural identity, or cosmopolitan travel – is that questions of citizenship ultimately concern the bounds of communities and the moral convictions that constitute them.
Varieties of Citizenship and the Moral Foundations of Politics
Varieties of Citizenship and the Moral Foundations of Politics
Recent Publications
- “Equal Opportunity, Not Reparations” in the Handbook of Equality of Opportunity (2024)
- “A Bayesian Solution to Hallsson’s Puzzle”
- Markets without Limits: Moral Virtues and Commercial Interests, 2nd Edition
- “Optimizing political influence: a jury theorem with dynamic competence and dependence”
- Why not anarchism?
Recent News
- Advocacy group concerned pay-for-plasma clinics expanding to Ontario will hurt voluntary donations
- Jason Brennan and Hélène Landemore, Debating Democracy (University of Zurich’s UBS Center, 2024)
- Jason Brennan “Everything Wrong with Democracy” on the Alex O’Connor Podcast (January 28, 2024)
- On the affirmative action ruling, the Supreme Court got it half right
- Is the effective altruism movement in trouble?