Being stranger at home: citizen and alien as "cross categories" in the U.S. facing global terrorism

The essay argues that international terrorism is pushing the U.S. to rely on categories such as “friends” and “enemies” redefining citizenship in substantial terms. In the age of global terrorism, nationality does not grant holders with a special protection from State’s exercise of power. Indeed terrorism closes the circle of the political community around the “real citizen”, who deserves to be safeguarded as opposed to the enemy. The real citizen is identified by virtue of his original relationship with the State. The original bond makes him faithful to the Nation.