Noncitizen Power: Agency and the Politics of Migration

In Noncitizen Power Tendayi Bloom applies her novel politics of ’noncitizenism’ to global governance. Noncitizenism advocates examining political institutions from the perspectives of those who must live and act despite them. Noncitizen power may be essential in addressing some of our world’s apparently most intractable challenges. By analysing civil society engagement in the 2018 UN Global Compact for Migration, Bloom examines how far those with the most direct experiences of difficulties arising from migration governance can contribute to shaping it. Interrogating its underlying narratives and how human agency is understood within them, she highlights how politics, from grassroots activism to global deliberations, necessarily involves real people. This book introduces some of those engaging in noncitizen politics, providing a critical contribution to contemporary debates on solidarity, participation, legitimacy and justice in the international system and in migration politics.

Tendayi Bloom is Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at The Open University. She is author of Noncitizenism: Recognising Noncitizen Capabilities in a World of Citizens (Routledge, 2018)