Opening with a discussion of Liberia’s official seal, Pailey’s book explores the evolving nature of (dual) citizenship as a crucible through which to explore questions of nation, state and peace building. Through an incredibly detailed and rich empirical evidence base (over 200 interviews), an adroit reading of the (at times contradictory) legal framing of citizenship, and a detailed theoretical framework, the work offers an unparalleled consideration of the lived experience of Liberian (dual) citizens. From the outset, the book is detailed and compelling – providing a nuanced yet highly accessible introduction to the contextual, legal and theoretical framework that is used to address the thorny questions and issues surrounding struggles over who belongs. Among the many contributions of the work, various arguments stand out. In particular, and one that Pailey notes from the outset, is a postcolonial critique of the policy rush to capturing diaspora populations as key to promoting and financing development initiatives – whether via HomeTown Associations or direct government policies.
The work is based on an exceptionally rich body of empirical work, collected from hundreds of respondents across multiple countries and continents. The presentation of the respondents’ stories and ideas is compelling, truly allowing the voices of the Liberian (dual) citizens to be heard, with Pailey’s commentary and analysis taking the reader deeper into the varying understandings and enactments of citizenship in everyday life. With these discussions, Pailey argues – very effectively – that the diffusion of liberal citizenship norms have led to a rise in dual citizenship and a rise in claims for non-resident citizenship. This book provides a detailed examination of how these claims are made and, crucially, how these have complicated and challenged legal framings of citizenship and who belongs.
Alongside this, Pailey’s argument for a continuum of citizenship – from passive to active – is well made, and is one that is well developed in citizenship studies literature. The interpretation of ‘passive’, interactive and ‘active’ citizenship offered here (as, respectively, identity and practice) brings to mind the work of Osler and Starkey on citizenship as ‘status’, ‘feeling’ and ‘practice’. There are specific differences at play between the conceptual frameworks, illustrating the importance of thinking through how the everyday-ness of citizenship is crucial to understanding not only how policies on citizenship are encountered but also how and why claims to citizenship remain contested and highly emotive.
While there are places where, arguably, further existing literature on theories of citizenship could have been engaged, Pailey provides a commanding and insightful framing for the work. Where an early discussion turns to Liberian citizenship as ‘having heart’ and ‘contribution’, the potential remains for more critical connections to be made to notions of citizenship as status, feeling, practice and habitus. To be clear, I find Pailey’s categorization powerful and effective here, and a broader set of critical connections to the ‘forms’ of citizenship mentioned above and/or to the use of ideas of passive/active/activist citizenship elsewhere would have strengthened those existing debates. Linking back to Pailey’s stated aim of offering a postcolonial critique, the explorations offered in the book add layers to and challenge specific notions of (active/passive) citizenship that are often drawn from experiences in Europe and North America.
Indeed, Pailey’s work offers a huge amount to the fields of citizenship studies, African studies, political geography and beyond. At the heart of the work is not only a breath-taking mastery of the Liberian political economy and its framing of citizenship, but also the ability to communicate this sophisticated understanding in a vivid and accessible manner. Alongside this, the journeys of citizenship that are explored – and the understanding of citizenship itself as dynamic and continually renegotiated and recreated – provide for detailed analyses and discussions not only of how understandings of citizenship are created in multiple ways, but also of how they are experienced and encountered at various spatial and temporal scales. Running throughout these discussions is a detailed attention to multiple sites and scales of struggle – from struggles over legal framings of who belongs, to everyday experiences of exclusion and inclusion, to the role of the diaspora in Liberian development and politics.
In summary, Pailey’s work is detailed, sophisticated and truly insightful – but also accessible, rich and engaging. It is a book that was a pleasure to read (and review), and one that I will use repeatedly both as a resource in my own research and in teaching.
