The Global Trade in Passports Is the Latest Boom Industry Catering to the Superrich
If you can afford to pay, there are a growing number of states willing to sell their citizenship and the privileges it brings. The lucrative trade in “golden passports” exposes the dark side of capitalist globalization and its unequal valuation of human lives.
Citizenship by investment will continue to grow in a world of risk, uncertainty, and inequality — the hallmarks of the capitalist expansion that drives much of contemporary globalization. (Getty Images)
In October 2017, the tiny country of Montenegro was abuzz. Nestled in the mountains along the Adriatic coast and with a mere population of 620,000, it’s a place that has been overlooked by many. Formerly a part of Yugoslavia, it remained an appendage of Serbia until it gained full independence in 2006.
Given the country’s size, it didn’t take much to create a lot of hype for the Global Citizen Forum (GCF). In the capital city of Podgorica, billboards projected mammoth images of the GCF’s headline speakers, a glitterati lineup including actor Robert De Niro, rapper Wyclef Jean, and General Wesley Clark.
Along the Adriatic coast, black and gold forum banners lined the highway, challenging drivers to “inspire change” and “provoke innovation.” At the airport, posters greeted new arrivals by proclaiming, “The future starts now: keep the conversation going.” Over two days, nearly four hundred participants would gather in the small Balkan country to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world today.
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