Good Citizen

JoAnne Myers is associate professor of political science and former chair of the Political Science Department of Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY. As an applied political philosopher, her research interrogates the relationship between citizen, non-citizen, and the state in the modern liberal state, focusing on human rights.

• 1. Introduction 2. Citizen and Political Theory In America 3. Myth America 4. Patriotism 5. Propertied 6. Political Participation 7. Productive Citizen 8. Re-Producing Citizens 9. Conclusion

"In The Good Citizen, Professor JoAnne Myers makes us think seriously and critically about the ever contested concept and practices of liberal-democratic citizenship. Informed by history both American and comparative, she challenges us to see the realities of American belonging, the lived experience of citizenship, the elevation of some and the marginalization of others, in terms of five markers: patriotism, property ownership, participation, productivity, and re-productivity. Moreover, she writes not merely as a political scientist, but as a citizen, indeed, an American citizen who is deeply worried about the future of American democratic life given the widening inequalities and intensifying oppressions that so many of us endure. And thankfully, she does not simply point out and warn us of the dangers threatening us. She also advances arguments about what we might do to redeem and advance the ideals of citizenship we profess. This is a most timely book. A book that will help us, all of us, not only scholars and students, better understand and address the manifold crises we confront." — Harvey J. Kaye, Director, Center for History and Social Change, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay