ABSTRACT
The figure of the citizen is constructed through a series of oppositions and exclusions. First, the citizen is construed as the opposite of the foreigner, the outsider who does not reside within the territory of the state. Second, he or she is imagined as the opposite of the refugee who may temporarily reside within state boundaries, but does not have access to the rights and entitlements that a citizen enjoys. Third, the idea of the citizen is created in opposition to the historically older group identities that pertain within the territory of the state.
