Postcolonial Citizenship

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the development of citizenship in postcolonial states. Imperial subjects within Empire are disaggregated into four categories. Imperial racial hierarchies and the legacies of divide-and-rule colonialism mark the transition from imperial subject to post-colonial citizen at independence. A uniting anti-colonial nationalism is in tension with majoritarian nationalism. While initial citizenship was an outcome of struggles over defining a national political identity, the postcolonial state was soon expanding to deliver and realize socio-economic citizenship for the marginalized and the poor. Strengthening postcolonial citizenship through welfare generated contestations over the eligibility of groups deserving of state sponsored welfare, which led to more political and social fragmentation. Inclusionary welfare for some groups meant the exclusion of others. Contemporary postcolonial citizenship building is being advanced through political and legal activism over specific rights. Future research will benefit from analyzing the role of bottom up political and legal activism in producing new types of citizenship.

Understanding Membership in a World of Global Migration: (How) Does Citizenship Matter?

“…However, observers note an exclusionary trend among some African and Middle Eastern states, challenging a simple global diffusion account (Manby ; Joppke ). While many postcolonial states embraced inclusive territorial citizenship upon independence to solidify claims over land and facilitate nation‐building out of diverse populations, subsequent fears over borders and migration — fed by populism or the desire to restrict the pool of people who could claim state resources — has made demonstrating descent from a country's “founding” residents, or tribal and ethnic ties, increasingly important (Joppke ; Manby ; Sadiq ). Shevel () argues that drafting citizenship law in new states is fundamentally different from the experiences of West European and North American countries.…”

“…We are unsure whether posited citizenship effects apply to non‐Western contexts. Sadiq () suggests that Western notions of citizenship can be applied to postcolonial contexts, but with greater attention to the role of social rights and welfare provision for constituting the citizenry. In trying to knit highly diverse populations together, state provision of resources becomes foundational to the citizenship project.…”

Irony of Citizenship: Descent, National Belonging, and Constitutions in the Postcolonial African State

“…Nevertheless, processes of nation and state building connect politics to citizenship through targeted inequality in political, economic, and cultural policies, affecting what citizenship is in practice (Jamal ). In addition, in postcolonial states citizenship “is structured by a history of colonial rule and the inherent power differentials and social control implicit in European imperial projects” (Sadiq : 178). As such, citizenship is a contested space where legal status, rights and entitlements and forms of identity have “a pre‐independence and a post‐independence life” (Jayal : 12).…”

“…In this way, colonialism has a “deep and lasting impact” on the “understandings and constructions of citizenship in the contemporary period” (Kapur : 537). For instance, countries in Africa and Asia had to rework institutions “meant to control and regulate colonial subjects with a racially determined secondary status” so that they could “serve the needs of independent citizens configured as equals by a new constitution” (Sadiq : 179). Yet, as this article shows efforts to equalize racially through provisions for individuals in new constitutions proved difficult.…”

“…While postcolonial perspectives offer an approach that takes into account the central position of colonialism in defining contemporary notions of citizenship, allowing a critique of liberal citizenship, most scholars have addressed postcolonial citizenship through the rights conferred to citizens in terms of ethno‐nationalism and constitutional equality (Adebanwi ; Aiyar ; Geschiere ; Jamal ; Jayal ; Kapur ; Lawrance and Stevens ; Lee ; Mamdani ; Manby ; Sadiq ). Our historical analysis reveals nuances in the way rights come to be conferred beyond ethno‐nationalism and constitutional equality, by examining the way membership is negotiated and envisioned.…”