Citizenship

“The Southern Challenge”: Contestatory Federalism in India*

Abstract

Does contestation by subnational units help in maintaining or even enhancing federal practices? This contribution examines recent developments in India, specifically the role of southern states in questioning the practice of federalism, in particular against increasing centralisation. It argues that the southern states play an important role in challenging actions by the federal government and thus also highlight the inequities of the centralised Indian federation and lack of institutionalised fora for intergovernmental relations and centre-state dialogues.

 

Continue reading →

Posted by Rekha Oleschak Pillai in Case Studies, 0 comments
Rebalancing Federal Citizenship in Canada

Rebalancing Federal Citizenship in Canada

Abstract

In multinational federations, tensions around national identities, rights and entitlements, and power-sharing arrangements are endemic and never finally resolved. In Canada, simultaneous constitutional and fiscal crises in the 1990s brought into question the legitimacy of the ‘federal bargain’ at the core of the citizenship regime. The federal government’s response was to introduce a number of institutional, programmatic, fiscal and symbolic reforms that adjusted the delicate balance between national unity and the accommodation of diversity. This pragmatic political vision, replete with certain asymmetries and ambiguities, enabled Canada to rebuild and rebalance its way to its own unique shade of federalism.

 

Continue reading →

Posted by James Bickerton in Case Studies, 0 comments
‘The whole is other than the sum of its parts’: Cases of Centrifugal Citizenship

‘The whole is other than the sum of its parts’: Cases of Centrifugal Citizenship

Abstract

This piece looks at what happens to citizenship when multilevel polities fall apart. Introducing the notion of ‘centrifugal citizenship’ to describe such cases, it uses the experience of the former Yugoslav republics to show all the possible consequences for individuals from the loss of status and the associated rights. The last section of the piece briefly contextualises such centrifugal citizenship in the debates related to the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.

Continue reading →

Posted by Jelena Dzankic in Policies, 0 comments