Semblances of Sovereignty (book)

Semblances of Sovereignty is a book by T. Alexander Aleinikoff that deals with the U.S. Constitution, the conditional state of the US State's and the US Citizenship since the end of the 19th century. Alexander argues that citizenship should be "decentered" and understood as a commitment to an intergenerational national project, not a basis for denying rights to immigrants.

Author Information

T. Alexander Aleinikoff is the Dean of the Georgetown University Law Center and the Executive Vice President of Georgetown University. He has written on immigration refugee, citizenship law and policy, constitutional law, statutory interpretation and race discrimination. His most recent books include, Migration and International Law (2003); Semblances of Sovereignty: The Constitution, the State and American Citizenship (2002); Citizenship Policies for an Age of Migration (2002); and Modern Constitutional Theory (1999). He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Yale Law School.

ummary

Semblances of Sovereignty supports the idea of abandonment from plenary power cases and advocates a new flexible conception for sovereignty and citizenship. According to T. Alexander Aleinikoff, the federal government ought to negotiate compacts with Indian tribes and the territories that affirm more durable forms of self-government. The book also accounts a beautiful narrative about a certain World Fair.

ubstance

* Sovereignty Cases and the Pursuit of an American Nation-State
* Citizen-State from the Warren Court to the Rehnquist Court
* Commonwealth and the Constitution :(The Case of Puerto Rico)
* The Erosion of American Indian Sovereignty
* Indian Tribal Sovereignty beyond Plenary Power
* Plenary Power, Immigration Regulation and Decentered Citizenship
* Reconceptualizing Sovereignty :(Towards a New American Narrative)