Rights across borders

In Rights across Borders, political sociologist David Jacobson asks how transnational migrations have affected our ideas of citizenship and the state since World War II. Jacobson shows how citizenship has been increasingly devalued as governments extend rights to foreign populations and how, in turn, international human rights law has become increasingly important. Analyzing the ideas behind key international documents and discussions on human rights, Jacobson traces the ascendancy of these ideas and shows how they have caused a reexamination of basic notions of citizenship and the nation state. He also explores the implications of these developments for domestic and international politics. . Jacobson examines illegal immigration in the United States and migrant and foreign populations in Western Europe, with a special focus on Germany and France. He shows how the differing political cultures of these countries - the ethnic basis of citizenship in Germany versus its political basis in the United States, for instance - have shaped their responses to immigration challenges. Addressing the timely issue of recent large-scale immigration and its impact upon host societies, Rights across Borders offers a lucid and insightful presentation of a difficult and complex issue.