Citizenship revocation: a stress test for liberal democracy

Abstract

ABSTRACTOn the basis of the case studies collected in this special issue, the paper analyses what is philosophically at stake in public discourses and policies about citizenship revocation, and why the latter currently acts as a borderline case with regard to liberal democracy. Firstly, we ask whether, beyond an intensification of internal tensions, the destabilizing effects attached to the revival of citizenship revocation conjure up dilemmas which imply a possible exit from liberal democracy or, at least, a decoupling between liberalism and democracy. Investigating this possible shift from tensions to dilemmas, we underline that the liberal dimension of citizenship, based on individual rights, has lost importance in setting out the conditions of access to the political ‘us’. Conversely, both the republican and communitarian claims, based on civic virtue and collective identity, respectively, have gained prominence and have converged on a primary interest for a ‘thick’ common bond. Finally, we examine two specific issues of key interest in understanding how citizenship revocation puts liberal democracy to the test: the challenge to cosmopolitanism as posed by the return of patriotism, andthe state promotion of shared values as a means to secure national identity, thus expressing an ethicisation-cum-ethnicisation of citizenship.