As a response to processes of globalization, regional integration and ethnic conflicts, the study of citizenship has regained new interest among social scientists and legal experts. This approach focuses on the relationship between the state and the people-as individuals and collectivities, citizens and non-citizens-both those living within or outside its borders. Citizenship defines the terms of rights and obligations in a society, regulates political participation and access to public goods and properties. Together, with its companion volume, Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East, this book represents the first systematic critical attempt to interpret the complex nature of Middle East politics from a citizenship perspective. In addition, the book provides both theoretical contributions and case studies, and includes a significant section on Israel and Palestine.

The violent transitions that have dominated developments since the Arab Uprisings demonstrate deep-seated divisions in the conceptions of state authority and citizen rights and responsibilities. Analysing the Middle East through the lens of the ‘citizenship approach’, this book argues that the current diversity of crisis in the region can be ascribed primarily to the crisis in the relations between state and citizen. The volume includes theoretical discussions and case studies, and covers both Arab and non-Arab countries.

This comprehensive Handbook gives an overview of the political, social, economic and legal dimensions of citizenship in the Middle East and North Africa from the nineteenth century to the present. The terms citizen and citizenship are mostly used by researchers in an off-hand, self-evident manner. A citizen is assumed to have standard rights and duties that everyone enjoys. However, citizenship is a complex legal, social, economic, cultural, ethical and religious concept and practice. Since the rise of the modern bureaucratic state, in each country of the Middle East and North Africa, citizenship has developed differently. In addition, rights are highly differentiated within one country, ranging from privileged, underprivileged and discriminated citizens to non-citizens. Through its dual nature as instrument of state control, as well as a source of citizen rights and entitlements, citizenship provides crucial insights into state-citizen relations and the services the state provides, as well as the way citizens respond to these actions. This volume focuses on five themes that cover the crucial dimensions of citizenship in the region: Historical trajectory of citizenship since the nineteenth century until independence Creation of citizenship from above by the state Different discourses of rights and forms of contestation developed by social movements and society Mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion Politics of citizenship, nationality and migration Covering the main dimensions of citizenship, this multidisciplinary book is a key resource for students and scholars interested in citizenship, politics, economics, history, migration and refugees in the Middle East and North Africa.

This comprehensive Handbook gives an overview of the political, social, economic and legal dimensions of citizenship in the Middle East and North Africa from the nineteenth century to the present. The terms citizen and citizenship are mostly used by researchers in an off-hand, self-evident manner. A citizen is assumed to have standard rights and duties that everyone enjoys. However, citizenship is a complex legal, social, economic, cultural, ethical and religious concept and practice. Since the rise of the modern bureaucratic state, in each country of the Middle East and North Africa, citizenship has developed differently. In addition, rights are highly differentiated within one country, ranging from privileged, underprivileged and discriminated citizens to non-citizens. Through its dual nature as instrument of state control, as well as a source of citizen rights and entitlements, citizenship provides crucial insights into state-citizen relations and the services the state provides, as well as the way citizens respond to these actions. This volume focuses on five themes that cover the crucial dimensions of citizenship in the region: Historical trajectory of citizenship since the nineteenth century until independence Creation of citizenship from above by the state Different discourses of rights and forms of contestation developed by social movements and society Mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion Politics of citizenship, nationality and migration Covering the main dimensions of citizenship, this multidisciplinary book is a key resource for students and scholars interested in citizenship, politics, economics, history, migration and refugees in the Middle East and North Africa.

Davis sets out what he believes are the basic terms for creating and sustaining democracy, and argues that citizenship is the means whereby equal access to a country's civil, political and social institutions and resources is assured.

The Crisis of Citizenship in the Arab World provides crucial insights into the current political, social and cultural crisis in the Middle East and North Africa by analysing histories, concepts, and practices of citizenship and the mechanisms that undermined them.

These essays illustrate the various ways in which women fall short of being vested with the rights and privileges that would define them as fully enfranchised citizens. They offer an in-depth examination of national legislation on personal status, penal law, labor law, nationality, and social security law. Others include indicators such as female education and employment, and many comment on the types of mobilization and activism engaged in by Middle Eastern women themselves to press for an expansion of their citizenship rights. Along with its sister volume, Citizenship and State in the Middle East, Applications and Approaches, also by Syracuse University Press, this book represents a pioneering approach to the Middle East from a citizenship perspective. The contributors raise a number of important and controversial issues that merit serious consideration.