What is Citizenship for?

Citizenships and Naturalization in Latvia

by Susanne Tonsmann

Image coming soon

Extent: 218 pages

Publisher: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag

Subjects: Law, Social Sciences 

Series: Baltic Sea Region

Language: English

Paperback (No longer our product)

(March 2017)

ISBN: 9783830535959

5.98 x 8.98 inches

Price: $74.00

In stock

Citizenship is considered a core ingredient of democracy and provides an indeed valuable status: Having citizenship means, amongst other things, having the right to vote, belonging to a state and being able to show a passport when crossing a border. What happens, though, when citizenship is not a given but an option? After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a sizeable part of Latvia’s population was left without citizenship. Their willingness to naturalize has been lower than expected – a situation that challenges our understanding of citizenship as a desirable status.What makes citizenship attractive for people? Why does the state want to have citizens and not only residents? Conceiving citizenship as a relation between an individual and a particular state, this book addresses different dimensions of citizenship. Firmly rooted in citizenship theory, the author presents answers to the question “What is citizenship for?” and provides a nuanced analysis of the development of Latvian citizenship policies.

  • By (author) Susanne Tonsmann