Elizabeth F. Cohen
Associate Professor, Political Science
Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute
Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute
Degree
Ph.D., Yale University, 2003
Specialties
Contemporary and modern political theory, history of political thought, immigration and citizenship
Courses
The Political Construction of Identity
Contemporary Normative Political Philosophy
The Politics of Citizenship
Civil Society and Democracy
Publications
Books
Semi-Citizenship in Democratic Politics. (Cambridge University Press, 2009.)
Articles
“Rethinking Immigration Reform: The Political Currency of Time in Immigration.” Perspectives on Politics: September 2011.
“Jus Tempus in Magna Carta: the Sovereignty of Time in Modern Citizenship and Politics.” PS: Political Science and Politics, July 2010.
“Limitations on Universality: The Right to Health, Statelessness, and Legal Nationality” with Lindsey Kingston and Christopher Morley. International Health and Human Rights 10:11 2010.
“Children, ADHD, and Citizenship” with Christopher Morley. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 34(2) 2009, 155-180.
“Carved from the Inside Out: Public Philosophies of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States” in Debating Immigration. Carol Swain, Ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
“Social Philosophy of the Family” in Debates in Social Philosophy. Laurence Thomas, Ed. (Oxford: Blackwell Press, 2007).
“Neither Seen Nor Heard: Children’s Citizenship in Democratic Polities.” Citizenship Studies, May 2005.
“Immigrant Incorporation and Intermediary Institutions” with Kristi Andersen in The Politics of Democratic Inclusion, Eds. Christina Wolbrecht and Rodney E. Hero, with Peri E. Arnold and Alvin B. Tillery, Jr. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005)
Research Interests
Contemporary and Modern Political Theory
History of Political Thought
Immigration
Citizenship
Research Projects
Jus Tempus and the Sovereignty of Time in Citizenship
This project develops and illustrates the theory that the variables of date and time – what I call jus tempus – serve a role equal to that of place and lineage in the assignment of citizenship. Much like sovereign physical boundaries, boundaries in time clearly delineate the people for whom a polity is responsible and in exactly what capacity. The establishment of pivotal dates and durations of time reflects a set of beliefs and commitments about what time represents for political life and for the normative underpinnings of a political community. I make a three-pronged argument:
1. Specific dates carve out sovereign boundaries between members and non-members.
2. Measured durations of time are an important means with which polities can represent intangible qualities or relationships such as allegiance.
3. Once the qualitative traits of a citizen have been expressed in the tangible quantitative terms of measured time, these durations of time can be exchanged for rights and recognized political status. This can occur wholesale, in the grant of full citizenship, or partially, through the progressive granting of rights to people over specific periods of time.
SU Affiliations
State University of New York Upstate Medical University Department of Family Medicine
Campbell Public Affairs Institute