Ayelet Shachar | University of Toronto (original) (raw)

Papers by Ayelet Shachar

American Journal of Sociology, 2003

This volume offers an in‐depth exploration of the descent‐based conceptions of citizenship in Ger... more This volume offers an in‐depth exploration of the descent‐based conceptions of citizenship in Germany and Israel, as reflected by their contemporary immigration regimes and “integration” challenges. The discussion is divided into five parts: historical and ...

International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2012

, and the students enrolled in my Multiculturalism and the Law seminar at Harvard Law School. Spe... more , and the students enrolled in my Multiculturalism and the Law seminar at Harvard Law School. Specials thanks are due to Ran Hirschl for his invaluable comments and suggestions. This study was generously supported by a Connaught Research Fellowship in the Social Sciences and benefi ted signifi cantly from the dedicated research assistance of Kristel Hammer. All errors are mine.

Ethics & International Affairs

Initially portrayed as the “great equalizer,” the COVID-19 pandemic has proved anything but. This... more Initially portrayed as the “great equalizer,” the COVID-19 pandemic has proved anything but. This essay recounts the sobering social disparities and vulnerabilities that the pandemic has exposed, especially when it comes to the inequalities that are baked into existing membership regimes, before turning to narratives of hope and democratic renewal. My discussion shines a spotlight on the relationship between borders, (im)mobility, and struggles for recognition and inclusion that have long been central to the practice of citizenship. Focusing on pathways to the acquisition of full membership status for those who are currently denied it, I will deploy logics and policies that have already begun to take shape in different parts of the world, with the goal of amplifying their effects and multiplying their scale. I identify three possible trajectories for postpandemic recovery, two of which offer ways to enhance equality of status and public standing by enlarging the circle of membership...

International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2010

McGill LJ, 2005

The use of gendered and idealized images of women as symbols of group identity is prevalent in mo... more The use of gendered and idealized images of women as symbols of group identity is prevalent in modem conflicts between minority and majority cultures. As a result, the position of women within minority cultures may be particularly vulnerable. The internal feminist critique of ...

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law), 2011

that such measures are not applied in a manner as to nullify or impair the benefits accruing to a... more that such measures are not applied in a manner as to nullify or impair the benefits accruing to any Member under the terms of a specific commitment." According to the latter rule, exercising the police power of the state must not frustrate any market access commitments made under international law. Taken together, the meaning of the provision is not entirely clear. A reasonable construction would be that states are free to control their borders, but visas for service providers must not be refused on grounds of economic policy. So, in effect, WTO law comes very close to a Sevince rationale.

Identities, Affiliations, and Allegiances

While the topic of immigration attracts considerable attention, it is by means of birthright, and... more While the topic of immigration attracts considerable attention, it is by means of birthright, and not naturalization, that approximately 97 percent of the global population acquires political membership. 1 In distributing membership and entitlement, or what Michael Walzer calls "the most important good" 2 within our communities, modern polities have long adhered to a formal, legal connection between entitlement to membership and circumstances of birth. This adherence automatically bequeaths to some a world replete with opportunity and condemns others to a life with little hope. There is no doubt that membership status in any given state or region-with its particular level of wealth, degree of stability, and human rights record-is, even in the current age of increasing globalization and privatization, a crucial factor in the determination of life chances. Political and legal theory has, however, had remarkably little to say about the system of distributive injustice attributable to current birthright citizenship laws. This lacuna is especially surprising in light of recent and vibrant citizenship debates concerning topics closely related to the injustice in question-for example, the claims of minority groups, the narratives of collective-identity formation, and the ethics of political boundaries. These debates engage with what can be referred to as the "identity-bonding" This research was generously supported by grants from the Cecil A. Wright Foundation for Legal Scholarship and the Connaught Research Fellowship in the Social Sciences at the University of Toronto. Earlier versions were presented at the Yale "Identities, Affiliations, and Allegiances" conference; the University of Toronto Faculty of Law "Globalization, Justice, and the Law" workshop; and the American Political Science Annual Meeting, "Questioning the Aspiration to Global Justice" panel. I would like to express thanks to Casiano

University of Toronto Law Journal, 2009

Citizenship is back in vogue. Politicians speak about it; public-policy makers debate how best to... more Citizenship is back in vogue. Politicians speak about it; public-policy makers debate how best to make citizenship meaningful in an age of globalized security threats and migration pressures. Legislatures worldwide have also taken an interest, introducing new citizenship tests and more restrictive admission criteria. Scholars, too, have turned their gaze to citizenship once again, after many years of neglect. 1 This renewed interest in citizenship is avant-gardist and futuristic in orientation: intellectuals and dreamers alike imagine how citizenship might evolve in the twenty-first century and beyond. The urgency of such a task is typically explained as follows: with the rise of economic globalization, on the one hand, and the fragmentation of cultural identity within established societies, on the other, the national model of citizenship no longer fits the bill. The world is changing; so should citizenship. Indeed, some are claiming that citizenship is already undergoing major transformations-and that this is a good thing, too. What remains under fierce debate is what is in store for this glorious yet unfinished institution. Are we witnessing the semblances of global or cosmopolitan citizenship? 2 The rise of more commodified and

Perspectives on Politics, 2010

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is a powerful journalistic ... more Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is a powerful journalistic account of the oppression of women worldwide, and of the ways that some women and men have struggle against this oppression and discovered new forms of economic empowerment. The book—in its eleventh printing in less than a year, and with testimonials from the likes of Angelina Jolie and George Clooney—is also a publishing sensation. Half the Sky brings much attention to an important and timely topic, and it creatively combines narrative, analysis, and policy prescriptions, and so we invited three prominent scholars of gender inequality and development to reflect on the book's strengths and weaknesses: Ayelet Shachar, Uma Narayan, and Valentine M. Moghadam.

Citizenship Studies, 2014

With all the talk about the growing ease of human mobility across borders, if Martians landed on ... more With all the talk about the growing ease of human mobility across borders, if Martians landed on Earth, they might believe that immigration is unrestricted and open to all. Alas, the harsh reality is that not everyone who wishes to leave his or her country of origin will be able to lawfully enter a desired destination country. Barriers to human mobility are still significant and multifaceted. That is not to say, however, that these barriers are equally distributed globally. Passport holders of the European countries that comprise the borderfree Schengen Area, and authorized international visitors enjoy freedom of mobility within the free-zone area, which covers more than 4 million square kilometers and has a population of more than 400 million people. Citizens of other countries that benefit from various bilateral and multilateral visa-waiver programs can also anticipate welcome mats awaiting them in many destinations. Things look quite different, however, for the vast majority of the world’s population, in particular the countless people locked – by chance, and not choice – in the world’s poorer or less stable regions, who face significant, sometimes insurmountable, obstacles to lawful entry into the promised lands of immigration (Castles and Miller 2009; Gamlen and Marsh 2011; Milanovic 2011; Neumayer 2006; Shachar 2009). A crucial task for contemporary scholars of migration and citizenship is to identify the political, institutional, and ideological conditions that define, reify, or unsettle the boundary between inclusion and exclusion, a boundary that bears dramatic consequences for individuals and political communities everywhere (including the classic immigrant democracies – Australia, Canada, and the USA), and that forms the focus of this special issue of Citizenship Studies. Writing in the aftermath of the human rights atrocities visited on millions in the interwar period and during the SecondWorldWar, Hannah Arendt came to see citizenship, the right to belong to some kind of an organized community, as foundational, as the ‘right to have rights’ – the bedrock for fulfilling and protecting our otherwise abstracted human rights (Arendt 1968 [1951], 177; Benhabib 2011). For this reason, observed Arendt, sovereignty ‘is nowhere more absolute than in matters of “emigration, naturalization, nationality, and expulsion”’(Arendt 1968 [1951], 278). How to address the potential contradiction between the sovereign power to exclude and the human need for inclusion in a political community that treats us as equal and worthy of respect and dignity is a perennial dilemma.

Cardozo L. Rev., 2001

TWO CRITIQUES OF MULTICULTURALISM Ayelet Shachar* Introduction The literature on multiculturalism... more TWO CRITIQUES OF MULTICULTURALISM Ayelet Shachar* Introduction The literature on multiculturalism has become a burgeoning industry.1 Nearly every journal in law, philosophy, political science, and sociology now regularly publishes articles on issues of citizenship, minority ...

Les ateliers de l'éthique, 2012

Cet article est la traduction française de l’introduction du livre d’Ayelet Shachar, «The Puzzle ... more Cet article est la traduction française de l’introduction du livre d’Ayelet Shachar, «The Puzzle of Birthright Citizenship», avec la permission de l’éditeur, tirée de The Birthright Lottery : Citizenship and Global Inequality, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, pp.1-18. © 2009 President and Fellows of Harvard College. Traduction de Martin Provencher.

This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Additional reproduction for othe... more This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, requires the consent of the author(s), editor(s). If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author(s), editor(s), the title, the working paper, or other series, the year and the publisher.