Citizenship and the problem of community

This essay explores the relationship between citizenship and community in contemporary western societies in an attempt to put the theories of philosophers, academics, and agents of the state into conversation with the theories of activists. I argue that community is a problem not because it is inherently bad, but rather, because it is a site where contests are waged over citizenship and the terms of membership in society. Community is, therefore, the object of struggle in which different moral geographies are imagined. The entry point into this discussion is a recognition that community is constituted by contradictions that operate simultaneously. As such, community is the terrain that is negotiated as particular constructions of citizenship are put forward. It is not, however, a settled terrain, as theories and experiences of citizenship and community are always in competition, being constituted as they are by different rationalities, moral values, and imaginations of what is possible. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.