We the people

Book review of On Citizenship

When a colony gains independence, and adopts a constitution, do subjects turn into citizens overnight? What kind of contract between the citizen and the state enables democracy to thrive? How are rights conceptualised, articulated and guaranteed in a society marked by inequalities? If you are interested in these questions, read On Citizenship (2021), a collection of four essays.

In the first essay, titled “Citizenship: The Right to be a Citizen,” historian Romila Thapar writes, “Citizenship is commonly described as the relationship between the individual as a citizen with the state to which he or she may belong. This is the state