Citizenship is a tough subject to address as an academic or otherwise. The popular ivory-tower conception of academics notwithstanding, most have nationality and are proud of it (liberals and conservatives alike). Most academics addressing American citizenship as an institution are themselves American. That makes it tough to have the sort of dispassionate discussion one might be able to have with respect to, say, copyright law. Everyone's got something invested in citizenship. Nobody's "against" it, in contrast to the related but distinct issue of immigration policy; it's a consensus institution.

Which says a lot about its continuing vitality, and about the continuing vitality of American citizenship and national community in particular. Citizenship will be around in some form for a long time to come. There's a lot of which to be proud in America's history. The nation-state is a massive, perhaps unparalleled, achievement in the span of human history. And the United States surely marks its highpoint.

But that doesn't necessarily make it for all time. There's a natural tendency on the part of humans (and especially academics) to believe that they live in interesting times (even at the same time that it's held out as a curse). But even discounting for that tendency, we may be witnessing watershed developments that point away from the state and towards other forms of association. It seems to me that academics can add some value by looking beyond immediate policy horizons to grappling with the shift and its many implications.

So what lies beyond citizenship in the state? One thing's clear: it won't be some sort of happy-go-lucky world citizenship. Community is inherent to our existence but community isn't possible without difference. People will continue to distinguish themselves from each other on a group basis, and groups will find themselves in conflict. You can think of the Westphalian system as a sort of multiculturalism on a global scale, with sovereignty as a shield for protecting group difference. The new order we may be moving towards might be a more familiar sort of multiculturalism, beyond the confines of the state.

Can the lessons of citizenship in the state translate to new forms of association (or old ones, like religion) whose importance is rising relative to states? Even if we aren't moving towards one-world government on the model of the state, how can citizenship translate to newly consequential supranational institutions? I close with some thoughts on that in Beyond Citizenship, and that's where I'll close here.

I've enjoyed blogging this week at VC, and thanks to commenters (excepting those who accused me of treason!) and to Eugene for hosting me here.