Wagner College government and politics professor Cyril Ghosh’s new book, “Citizenship,” was published this summer by Polity, a U.K.-based academic publisher in the social sciences and humanities. The co-author of “Citizenship” was Elizabeth F. Cohen, professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
The publisher describes the book in this way:
Although we live in a period of unprecedented globalization and mass migration, many contemporary western liberal democracies are asserting their sovereignty over who gets to become members of their polities with renewed ferocity. Citizenship matters more than ever.
In this book, Elizabeth F. Cohen and Cyril Ghosh provide a concise and comprehensive introduction to the concept of citizenship and evaluate the idea’s continuing relevance in the 21st century. They examine multiple facets of the concept, including the classic and contemporary theories that inform the practice of citizenship, the historical development of citizenship as a practice, and citizenship as an instrument of administrative rationality as well as lived experience. They show how access to a range of rights and privileges that accrue from citizenship in countries of the global north is creating a global citizenship-based caste system.
This skillful critical appraisal of citizenship in the context of phenomena such as the global refugee crisis, South-North migration, and growing demands for minority rights will be essential reading for students and scholars of citizenship, migration studies and democratic theory.
Cyril Ghosh
Cyril Ghosh is an associate professor in, and chairman of, the Department of Government & Politics at Wagner College.
He is vice president of the New York State Political Science Association (2019-20) and program chairman for the Sexuality & Politics Division of the American Political Science Association (2019-20).
Ghosh earned a B.A. (1998) in political science and an M.A. (2000) in international relations from Jadavpur University, Calcutta (Kolkata), India. He also earned an M.A. (2005) and a Ph.D. (2008) from the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University, with specializations in political theory and American politics. In 2017, Ghosh also earned an M.P.A. from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
In addition to teaching at Wagner College, Ghosh has taught at Syracuse University, New School University, New York University, Reed College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College and City College of New York.
Ghosh’s research specializations include American political thought, identity politics/ multiculturalism, public law, sexuality, human rights, citizenship, and immigration. Ghosh is the author of, among other things, “The Politics of the American Dream: Democratic Inclusion in Contemporary American Political Culture” (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2013) and “De-Moralizing Gay Rights: Some Queer Remarks on LGBT+ Rights Politics in the U.S.” (Palgrave-Pivot, 2018).