2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(2) have yet to eliminate the problem despite clear, long-standing norms against citizenship deprivation and statelessness. 53 The final chapter summarises some of the questions raised by citizenship’s past and present and explores alternatives to citizenship. These themes broadly relate to how citizenship relates (or does not relate) to equality and nondiscrimination, the possibilities of local citizenship, and meanings for citizenship that go beyond the state. For instance, Spiro notes that while citizenship may not be allocated in an inclusive manner or does not guarantee equality, ‘it has supplied a valuable aspiration’ to equality, 54 at least in constitutional democracies. ‘In recent history’, Spiro points out, ‘citizenship has been a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for fuller recognition of rights within national communities’. 55 In this sense, citizenship provides a basis for rejecting inequality or ‘second-class citizenship’, and it provides a framework through which to question who can be included and why. Spiro questions how ‘global mobilities and frictionless communication’ 56 might diminish social solidarities that traditionally mapped onto territories and national citizenship. Nationalist political constituencies might revive traditional notions of citizenship while further undermining social solidarities, as they alienate and polarise fellow citizens with diverse political views and cultural identities. 57 In turn, citizenship at the local level, along with investment in local governance, may intensify. At the same time, regional identities such as European Union citizenship have grown in value and meaning, despite political and cultural divisions. 58 For Spiro, global citizenship in a formal sense remains unlikely given the impracticalities of global governance for representative democracies. On the other hand, human rights culture speaks to a global community of shared values that protects human dignity. 59 Additionally, Spiro does not explicitly take into account how global challenges demanding international cooperation — such as climate change, nuclear security or protracted refugee crises — might favour global citizenship. In any case, the state will likely remain a central organising principle for citizenship and global society. In short, Spiro’s Citizenship: What Everyone Needs to Know is a rich overview of citizenship for a general audience seeking critical reflection. As noted, because of its (nonexclusive) emphasis on the US and the ‘Global North’, concerns and perspectives in developing contexts are given less consideration. Including more of these perspectives could, among other issues, shed more light on how citizenship can actually work to reduce inequality and discrimination, which has sometimes resulted in statelessness. 60 Citizenship nonetheless models an inquiry into the many facets of citizenship for various national and international contexts. 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 The World’s Stateless: Deprivation of Nationality (Report, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion March 2020) 14 <https://files.institutesi.org/WORLD%27s_STATELESS_2020.pdf>. Noting the many challenges in collecting data on statelessness, the organisation states that this figure is ‘based on a review of UNHCR’s statistical reporting, supplementary and alternative data sources’, including persons who are displaced (refugees and internally displaced persons), plus Palestinian refugees affected by statelessness. Spiro (n 1) 136. ibid 137. ibid 140. ibid 141. ibid 150. ibid 154. See, eg, Lindsey N Kingston, Fully Human: Personhood, Citizenship, and Rights (Oxford University Press 2019). 366