ABSTRACT
The capabilities approach is used to provide a way in which to examine how activated noncitizenship interferes with what a person can do and be and the obligations to which this gives rise. This chapter utilises the capabilities approach to examine what is problematic in the activation of noncitizenship – in order to identify that it is problematic for a State to restrict noncitizens from doing and being and what obligations arise. It focuses on a dynamism that is active rather than responsive. The chapter draws the evolution of the approach further, using capabilities to frame the analysis of what noncitizens have the right to demand from States built upon liberal democratic principles and from the State system. The capabilities approach includes three core concepts: capability, functioning and agency. The capability approach provides a valuable tool in the context of noncitizenship because it can be developed in a non-contractarian way, allowing individual autonomy without the need for consent.
