Cosmopolites: The Coming of the Global Citizen by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian [Book Review]

In 2008, the United Arab Emirates finally offered to provide citizenship to the Bidoon, a stateless population ignored by the government for decades. However, theBidoon soon learned that they were not becoming Emiratis, but were instead being given citizenship in the Comoros, the small African island nation who was making the offer in exchange for millions of dollars in UAE development aid. Despite both domestic and foreign pressure to formalize the status of the Bidoon, Abu Dhabi did not want to grant Emirati citizenship—with all the social welfare benefits that would come with it—to the large stateless population. The deal with the Comoros provided a way out.

Of course, the Bidoon were not consulted, and their lives were little different once they became Comoroti. The agreement with the Comoros did not provide a mechanism to resettle any of the Bidoon there. In addition, as foreign nationals, the Bidoon could now be deported from the UAE if they complained about their living conditions: many Bidoon activists were put on one-way flights out the country.

This is an excerpt from a book review of Cosmopolites: The Coming of the Global Citizen published in the Asian Review of Books on December 23rd, 2015. The review can be found here.