Citizenship and the Nation-State

Abstract

The three books reviewed in this essay explore questions of citizenship rights brought to the fore by changing national and global social contexts. Bowen's book, Why The French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, The State, and Public Space, presents a case study of contentions arising between the sec- ularist, laicite traditions of the French state and the desire of young Muslim women to cover their hair in accordance with religious Islamic traditions. In their book, Women, the State, and War: A Comparative Perspective on Citi- zenship and Nationalism, Kaufman and Williams discuss four case studies focusing on women's rights in the United States, the former Yugoslavia, Israel, and Northern Ireland, respectively. Last, Gulalp's edited volume, Citizenship and Ethnic Conflict: Challenging the Nation-State , incorporates six case studies, each exploring the historic formulations and contesta- tions of what constitutes nationness among diverse groups (in Germany, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Iraq). Interestingly enough, whether the authors discuss headscarves, women's rights, or the role of religious and ethnic groups in state unity, the common theme among all books becomes the link between minori- ties and citizenship rights. Religious garb is not an issue in Israel or Iraq; it becomes problematic in conjunction with minority status and the secular- ist nation-state. Women's lack of political, economic, and social rights well into the twentieth century, even in most economically advanced countries, not only has contributed to their vulnerable position in times of conflict, but also continues to require the separation of women as a subjugated minority, whose rights need special protection. Not to mention, of course,