Shakespeare and Company Hosts Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

Thursday, December 3, 2015
7:00pm — 8:30pm
Shakespeare and Company
37 rue de la Bûcherie
75005 Paris, France
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The buying and selling of citizenship has become a thriving business in just a few years. Entrepreneurs and libertarians are renouncing America and Europe in favor of tax havens like Singapore and the Caribbean. But as journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian discovered, the story of twenty-first-century citizenship is bigger than millionaires seeking their next passport.

When Abrahamian learned that a group of mysterious middlemen were persuading island nations like the Comoros, St. Kitts, and Antigua to turn to selling citizenship as a new source of revenue after the 2008 financial crisis, she decided to follow the money trail to the Middle East. There, she found that the customers of passports-in-bulk programs were the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, oil-rich countries that don’t want to confer their own citizenship on their bidoon people, or stateless minorities who have no documentation.

In her timely and eye-opening first book, Abrahamian travels the globe to meet these willing and unwitting “cosmopolites,” or citizens of the world, who inhabit a new, borderless realm where things can go very well, or very badly.

"A perceptive, brilliantly reported investigation into the ways in which the forces of globalization are fundamentally changing the conceptualization and practice of nationality. This is that rare thing: a book filled with news." — Joseph O'Neill, author of Netherland and The Dog.

"A fiercely reported case study of the 'financialization' of citizenship and the burgeoning global business of buying and selling passports." — Politico Europe

"Abrahamian’s fluently told, fast-paced story takes her around the world … A slim but powerful book of great interest to students of international law and current events." — Kirkus Reviews

Most events take place upstairs in the library (30 seats), on the ground level (50 seats), or outside in front of the bookshop (weather permitting). During the events, the sound from the readings and discussions is projected around the entire store. We recommend you arrive 15-30 minutes early to try and get a seat as there is limited space. All our events are free and open to all. Please note we take photos at our events which we share publicly on our website.

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