Reinventing Citizenship

Who gets to belong, and who decides? Across the world, citizenship is no longer only a legal status. It is a contested promise of rights, recognition, and equality, and it is being fiercely redrawn. Reinventing Citizenship examines how anti-gender movements have grown into a powerful transnational force, challenging feminist, queer, and intersectional visions of democracy. Tracing their roots from early debates on gender and the state to today's digital campaigns, the book shows how language such as "gender ideology" and "traditional values" is used to mobilise support and narrow who counts as a full citizen. Moving across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia, it explores how colonial legacies, religious institutions, populist politics, and nationalism shape the backlash in different ways. It looks closely at schools and clinics, where struggles over education and reproductive rights are felt most directly, and at how race, class, ethnicity, and religion deepen exclusion for those already on the margins. Yet this is not only a story of backlash. The book also follows the movements, legal strategies, and digital communities that are pushing back, building solidarity across borders, and defending democratic pluralism. Drawing on feminist, queer, and postcolonial theory, it closes with practical pathways for policy, law, and activism that make equality real in everyday life. Clear, comprehensive, and rooted in intersectional thinking, Reinventing Citizenship is essential reading for students and scholars of sociology, gender studies, political science, law, and development, as well as policymakers, activists, and anyone who cares about the future of democracy and inclusive belonging.