Claiming the State

Claiming the State

Author: Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-08-16

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1108187978

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Citizens around the world look to the state for social welfare provision, but often struggle to access essential services in health, education, and social security. This book investigates the everyday practices through which citizens of the world's largest democracy make claims on the state, asking whether, how, and why they engage public officials in the pursuit of social welfare. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in rural India, Kruks-Wisner demonstrates that claim-making is possible in settings (poor and remote) and among people (the lower classes and castes) where much democratic theory would be unlikely to predict it. Examining the conditions that foster and inhibit citizen action, she finds that greater social and spatial exposure - made possible when individuals traverse boundaries of caste, neighborhood, or village - builds citizens' political knowledge, expectations, and linkages to the state, and is associated with higher levels and broader repertoires of claim-making.


Claiming Citizenship Rights in Europe

Claiming Citizenship Rights in Europe

Author: Daniele Archibugi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-12-14

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 1351713175

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While the European integration project is facing new challenges, abandonments and criticism, it is often forgotten that there are powerful legal instruments that allow citizens to protect and extend their rights. These instruments and the actions taken to activate them are often overlooked and deliberately ignored in the mainstream debates. This book presents a selection of cases in which legal institutions, social movements, avant-gardes and minorities have tried, and often succeeded, to enhance the current state of human rights through traditional as well as innovative actions. The chapters of this book investigate some of the cases in which the gap between the conventionally recognized rights and those advocated is becoming wider and where traditionally disadvantaged groups raise new problems or new issues are emerging concerning individual freedom, transparency and accountability, which are not yet properly addressed in the current political and legal landscape. Can political institutions and courts without coercive power of last resort actually foster more progressive rights? This book suggests that the expansion of human rights might be a viable strategy to generate a proper European citizenship. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Studies, Politics and International Relations, Law and Society, Sociology and Migration Studies and more broadly to NGOs and policy advisers.


Citizen Action and National Policy Reform

Citizen Action and National Policy Reform

Author: John Gaventa

Publisher: Zed Books

Published: 2010-04-08

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9781848133860

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How does citizen activism win changes in national policy? Which factors help to make myriad efforts by diverse actors add up to reform? What is needed to overcome setbacks, and to consolidate the smaller victories? These questions need answers. Aid agencies have invested heavily in supporting civil society organizations as change agents in fledgling and established democracies alike. Evidence gathered by donors, NGOs and academics demonstrates how advocacy and campaigning can reconfigure power relations and transform governance structures at the local and global levels. In the rush to go global or stay local, however, the national policy sphere was recently neglected. Today, there is growing recognition of the key role of champions of change inside national governments, and the potential of their engagement with citizen activists outside. These advances demand a better understanding of how national and local actors can combine approaches to simultaneously work the levers of change, and how their successes relate to actors and institutions at the international level. This book brings together eight studies of successful cases of citizen activism for national policy changes in South Africa, Morocco, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Turkey, India and the Philippines. They detail the dynamics and strategies that have led to the introduction, change or effective implementation of policies responding to a range of rights deficits. Drawing on influential social science theory about how political and social change occurs, the book brings new empirical insights to bear on it, both challenging and enriching current understandings.


Latino Cultural Citizenship

Latino Cultural Citizenship

Author: William Flores

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 1998-08-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9780807046357

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Through years of ethnographic work in Latino centers in San Antonio, Los Angeles, New York, San Jose, and Watsonville, California, eight prominent Latino scholars from disciplines such as anthropology, political science, and literary and legal studies explore the dynamics of Latino community-building and "cultural citizenship"-the use of cultural expression to claim political rights in the larger culture while maintaining a vibrant local identity. Chapters detail acts of cultural affirmation in Christmas festival celebrations in Texas, cannery strikes in California, educational programs in New York, and much more. A pathbreaking work of Latino scholarship, this book will help redefine the conversation about the future of community and the nature of citizenship in the United States The scholars in the interdisciplinary Inter-University Project (IUP) who wrote this book include Renato Rosaldo (Stanford University), Richard R. Flores (University of Wisconsin), Ana L. Juarbe (Hunter College), Blanca G. Silvestrini (University of Puerto Rico), Raymond Rocco (University of California, Los Angeles), the late Rosa Torruellas (Hunter College), and the volume's editors, William V. Flores (California State University, Northridge) and Rina Benmayor (California State University, Monterey Bay).


Your Guide to Becoming a US Citizen

Your Guide to Becoming a US Citizen

Author: Tammy Gagne

Publisher: Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc.

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 1612285090

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Each year hundreds of thousands of immigrants become naturalized citizens of the United States. Perhaps you and your parents are preparing to be among them. Applying for citizenship is a big decision, one that will require a fair amount of planning and preparation. This book will guide you through the steps you will need to take to make this dream a reality. Even those who were US citizens at birth can learn about the process that immigrants go through to become naturalized citizens. Whether you were born on United States soil or you are anxiously awaiting the day you become a citizen, learning about the naturalization process can help everyone appreciate the special privilege of US citizenship.


Citizens of the Empire

Citizens of the Empire

Author: Robert Jensen

Publisher: City Lights Books

Published: 2004-04

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 9780872864320

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As we approach the elections of 2004, U.S. progressives are faced with the challenge of how to confront our unresponsive and apparently untouchable power structures. With millions of antiwar demonstrators glibly dismissed as a "focus group," and with the collapse of political and intellectual dialogue into slogans and soundbites used to stifle protest-"Support the Troops," "We Are the Greatest Nation on Earth," etc.-many people feel cynical and hopeless. Citizens of the Empire probes into the sense of disempowerment that has resulted from the Left's inability to halt the violent and repressive course of post-9/11 U.S. policy. In this passionate and personal exploration of what it means to be a citizen of the world's most powerful, affluent and militarized nation in an era of imperial expansion, Jensen offers a potent antidote to despair over the future of democracy. In a plainspoken analysis of the dominant political rhetoric-which is intentionally crafted to depress political discourse and activism-Jensen reveals the contradictions and falsehoods of prevailing myths, using common-sense analogies that provide the reader with a clear-thinking rebuttal and a way to move forward with progressive political work and discussions. With an ethical framework that integrates political, intellectual and emotional responses to the disheartening events of the past two years, Jensen examines the ways in which society has been led to this point and offers renewed hope for constructive engagement. Robert Jensen is a professor of media law, ethics and politics at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream, among other books. He also writes for popular media, and his opinion and analytical pieces on foreign policy, politics and race have appeared in papers and magazines throughout the United States.


Becoming a U.S. Citizen

Becoming a U.S. Citizen

Author: Ilona Bray

Publisher: Nolo

Published: 2023-09-26

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 1413331181

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Everything you need to become a naturalized U.S. citizen Green card holders who take the next step and become U.S. citizens gain a host of benefits: the right to vote and apply for certain federal jobs, faster immigration for family, protection against deportation or new anti-immigration legislation, and more. But the application process itself can be long and confusing—and at worst, create a risk of deportation. With Becoming a U.S. Citizen, you can save months, or even years, and avoid complications. Learn how to: • make sure you are eligible for citizenship • understand the risks and rewards of applying • fill out application forms • study for the citizenship exam • interview successfully, and • deal with delays and setbacks. Becoming a U.S. Citizen also shows you how to ask for a reduced fee or take advantage of special exceptions if you have a disability, are in the military, or are the spouse of a U.S. citizen.


Your U.S. Citizenship Guide

Your U.S. Citizenship Guide

Author: Anita Biase

Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Company

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1601381352

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Your total resource for becoming a United States citizen. You'll learn the eligibility rules, and find easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for the N-400 application form. This book will help you prepare for the interview and the citizenship test. You will read a study guide on the principles of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. history. You will improve your English and become knowledgeable about the benefits and responsibilities of being a citizen.