Governance, Citizenship & Justice

Borders, territories, and scales of governance have been transformed within the context of neoliberal globalization. The balance of power between nation-states, local governments, multinationals, and supra-national institutions is changing, as is the distribution of power and responsibilities between people and governments.

Places and people are increasingly connected through human mobility, communication technologies, flows of commodities, money, ideas, and cultural practices and norms. These connectivities are disrupting conventional spatial divisions of governance and spaces of citizenship, and have raised questions about the future relations between states and citizens, peoples and communities, and the implications of such developments for inequality and justice across the globe.

Departmental research and teaching examine these issues in different parts of the world, in particular North America, Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

We study the practices and implications of imposing and redefining borders and scales of governance; the importance of public institutions and political leadership in the construction of democracy; how state intervention in individual conduct is legitimized, organized, and practiced; the increasing role of non-profits (e.g. charities) in the provision of social goods; the role of immigrants, social movements and transnational activist networks in creating new spaces of citizenship and belonging; the implications of the increasing cultural diversity of nation-states and cities for the future of democracy and citizenship; and conceptualizations and measures of social and environmental justice.

If this genre of research interests you, shoot an email to any of our faculty who work in this area—they are more than happy to work with you and answer your questions!