Renshon, Stanley A. The 50% American: Immigration and National Identity in an Age of Terror.

• Author: Wang, Linda Q.
• Position: Book review

Renshon, Stanley A. The 50% American: Immigration and National Identity in an Age of Terror. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2005. xxi + 260 pages. Cloth, $26.95.

The 50% American is a critical analysis of the fundamental incompatibility of the current practices of dual citizenship and American national identity. Contextualized in an era of global terrorism, the book raises the urgency of understanding the potentially eroding effect of dual citizenship on the essence of American community and American national identity. Renshon proposes policy changes to current practices as a conduit to strong national attachment and national security in post-9/11 America.

Dual citizenship, defined as holding more than one citizenship simultaneously, has become a common practice in contemporary times. Renshon notes that, worldwide, there are more than 150 countries that allow some form of dual citizenship and the number is growing. The United States, famed as a beacon for immigrants, receives a large share of immigrants from dual-citizenship-allowing countries. Among the top twenty immigrant-sending countries to the United States, dual-citizenship-allowing countries contribute close to ninety percent of the total number of immigrants. Of all immigrants who entered the United States from 1961 to 2002, more than eighty percent came from dual-citizenship-allowing countries. Currently, over forty million American citizens hold dual citizenship.

Renshon argues that the rising number of American citizens with dual citizenship and the current policies and practices of dual citizenship could pose a threat to American national identity and American national security. He posits his argument on two fundamental components of American national identity: citizenship built upon the American Creed and nationality built upon psychological attachment. Renshon states that citizenship is primarily a legal instrument sought for the rights and responsibilities accorded to the recognized or certified individuals of a state community, whereas nationality facilitates a psychological binding force derived from emotional ties and core understandings of the world. Renshon thus contends that American citizenship alone does not equate to American identity. He refutes the common conception that the American Creed--belief in justice and democracy--are sufficient in binding all Americans. He equates "citizenship without emotional attachment" to the "civic equivalent of a...