In most accounts of democracy, rights and national citizenship are closely linked. Yet, actual democracies and semi-democratic countries include many people who are not full citizens in legal and political terms. THere is no sign of this population diminishing, and good reason to think it will expand. What rights can such people exercise in a meaningful way? What rights should they have? Should we even rely on concepts and practices of rights to consider how the treatment and standing of noncitizens should be made fair and decent?

Publication details and link to source: David Plotke, ‘The Rights of Noncitizens’, Politics & Society Special Issue (43) 3, September 2014.