Citizenship for Sale?

The Oxford Handbook of Citizenship (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017)

29 Pages Posted: 30 Jul 2018

See all articles by Ayelet Shachar

Ayelet Shachar

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law; affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: May 26, 2018

Abstract

“There are some things that money can’t buy.” Is citizenship among them? In her contribution to the Oxford Handbook of Citizenship, Professor Shachar explores this question by highlighting the core legal and ethical puzzles associated with the surge in cash-for-passport programs. The spread of these new programs is one of the most significant developments in citizenship practice in the past few decades. It tests our deepest intuitions about the meaning and attributes of the relationship between the individual and the political community to which she belongs. This chapter identifies the main strategies employed by a growing number of states putting their visas and passports “for sale,” selectively opening their otherwise bolted gates of admission to the high-net-worth individuals of the world. Moving from the positive to the normative, the discussion then elaborates the main arguments in favor of, as well as against, citizenship-for-sale. Shachar draws attention to the distributive and political implications of these developments, both locally and globally, and identifies the deeper forces at work that contribute to the perpetual testing, blurring, and erosion of the state-market boundary regulating access to membership.

Keywords: citizenship, states, markets, passports, investment, commodification, immigration, globalization, inequality

Suggested Citation

Shachar, Ayelet and Shachar, Ayelet, Citizenship for Sale? (May 26, 2018). The Oxford Handbook of Citizenship (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3185561

Ayelet Shachar (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law ( email )

78 and 84 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5
Canada
416-978-1620 (Phone)
416-978-7899 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/faculty/shachar

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,350
Abstract Views
3,438
Rank
27,127
PlumX Metrics