Since 9/11, national governments in the global North have struggled to govern populations and manage cross-border traffic without building new barriers to trade. What does citizenship mean in an era of heightened tension between global capitalism and the nation-state? Building on Foucault’s concept of biopolitics and an examination of national border and detention policies, Rygiel argues that citizenship is becoming a globalizing regime to govern mobility. The new regime is deepening boundaries based on race, class, and gender, and causing Western nations to embrace a more technocratic, depoliticized understanding of citizenship.

Kim Rygiel is associate professor in the Department of Political Science and the Balsillie School of International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Kim Rygiel's profile page

• Joint winner, ENMISA Distinguished Book Award, International Studies Association
• Short-listed, International Prize, Canadian Political Science Association