24 Noncitizenism This special relationship of noncitizenship does not preclude other relationships, including citizen-like ones. Joseph Carens, for example, argues that irregular immigrants embodied within a society have rights therein on this basis. That is, they enter into some aspects of the citizenry insofar as they are living in the State and perhaps becoming integrated therein.41 Dora Kostakopoulou takes this further to argue that such individuals in fact have a claim to citizenship on the basis of their lives in a State.42 In this book I do not take a position with regard to citizenship (though supporting inclusive formal citizenship along the lines presented in Chapter 1). Insofar as such individuals are experiencing the State qua noncitizens, they have claims qua noncitizens. They may well also have claims as citizens in other dimensions. This approach makes it possible to connect the discussions of the relationship of a State towards individuals at its borders and within its territory to discussions of the relationships between a State and individuals far away. It has been argued that individuals in State A who are affected by the activities of State B thereby develop claims against State B. This book merely adds that these obligations are continuous with those obligations arising when the person arrives at State B’s borders or within its territory. So long as there is a special relationship of noncitizenship, there are special obligations that result, though the nature of the claims and of the obligations may differ depending on context. The noncitizenist approach, then, provides a means by which to examine how these locations of coercion, or vulnerability, relate to each other. A person may well have different claims at different times in this process. Yet something core to that individual’s relationship to the State in question remains constant. This is what noncitizenship provides. It provides a way in which to understand what connects relationships which can otherwise appear to be substantially different. In addition, by developing an understanding of noncitizenship and citizenship as intersecting and overlapping relationships, it is possible also to consider how one individual may relate to multiple States in different ways at one time and how these relationships in turn interact with each other. It also makes it possible to draw attention to elements of these relationships that might otherwise be overlooked. There is, then, a special relationship of noncitizenship that can be understood through the special sort of vulnerability that a person thereby has in relation to a particular State, and the challenge that this poses. A non-contractarian relationship Citizens submit their individual powers to a State. This may be with a view to ensuring their basic and less basic interests are secured (if they’re Hobbesian), or perhaps they so-submit in order to achieve even greater heights of collective 41 Joseph Carens (1987) ‘Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders’, pp. 251–273 in The Review of Politics 49. 42 Kostakopoulou 2008 ibid.