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Over the last decades, scholars have increasingly called for the 'deterritorialization' of the notion of citizenship. The realities concerning citizenship have changed with new expressions of transnationalism. However, whereas the main body of research has focused on the transnational aspects of citizenship among migrants in the form of their transnational political practices and dual nationalities, their descendants have received far less attention. This paper examines the political practices of Kurdish migrants' descendants in France and Germany and their narratives of identity and citizenship. We employ migrant descendants' political activism as an empirical entry point to gain insight into the meanings they attach to citizenship. The paper draws from two qualitative datasets collected in France (2015–2017) and Germany (2015–2023) with individuals of Kurdish background, who were born to migrant families arriving from Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s. The findings show that national contexts – both in grandparents'/parents' country of departure and the country of arrival – and the transnational, diasporic and even supranational space (EU) shape migrant descendants' political activism, identity construction and consequently resonate in the meanings they attach to citizenship. This study highlights the need to approach migrants' descendants as transnational citizens in their own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues for the use of refugee citizenship as a concept to analyse the kind of citizenship sought after, and experienced, by refugees in a protracted situation who want to retain some aspects of refugeehood in order to continue to fight for an endangered homeland. It is based on fieldwork conducted in 2019 with young Tibetans in Toronto who refer to themselves as Tibetan-Canadians or Canadian-Tibetans. Their experience of a dual affiliation, being both Canadian citizens and Tibetan refugees, informs the discussion of how a homeland cause can lead refugees in a protracted situation to have an ambivalent, insider/outsider, position vis-à-vis the newly acquired citizenship of the (usually Western) host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China does not permit dual nationality, meaning migrants in Australia must evaluate the benefits of Chinese versus Australian citizenship. Decisions about competing citizenship statuses are informed not only by this prohibition of dual nationality but also by individuals' classed positions. By comparing the choices of trade skilled migrants from different backgrounds in China, this paper shows that homeland social class is a key factor in decision-making processes, particularly the uniquely Chinese spatial expression of class manifested through the hukou system and the differential local citizenship this entails. An analysis of representative cases illustrates the complexities of evaluating memberships acquired through migration and nested memberships resulting from local citizenship with China. People from different backgrounds and, importantly, different places in China's socio-spatial hierarchy value their Chinese legal status differently. The differential effects, both material and symbolic, of membership in or exclusion from urban centres in China form a critical part of individuals' calculations, over and above the national-level membership within which local hukou citizenship is nested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finnish-Russian dual citizens are the largest group of multiple citizens in Finland. Building on thematic interviews and drawing on Sara Ahmed's work on cultural politics of emotions, this paper examines how emotions related to Russia and Russianness influence the way young Finnish-Russian dual citizens perceive their status and opportunities in Finland. The findings imply that emotions indeed play a significant role in shaping the way the young dual citizens use their citizenships. Due to the negative emotions related to Russia, many dual citizens tend to conceal or control their Russianness in public spaces. As a result, dual citizens' Russianness is increasingly becoming a private matter, whereas in the public sphere they aim at improving their status by trying to pass or act as Finns. Conceptually, this paper draws attention to the momentary and contextual nature of belonging. Depending on the context, an individual's sense of belonging can rapidly change from feeling at home to feeling out of place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, citizenship scholars have moved from conceptualizing citizenship as a legal status with associated rights to a more process-oriented approach acknowledging the socially constructed nature of citizenship. Although the dual citizenship literature hints at the importance of contention and recognition, it has yet to consider claims-making as a major mechanism shaping dual citizenship. Drawing on in-depth interviews, I examine the dual citizenship claims (or the lack of such claims) among marriage migrant women from the Philippines and Vietnam in South Korea, analyzing how women's narratives regarding dual citizenship are framed vis-à-vis the normative ideals of citizenship in each state. I suggest the claims-making approach as an analytical framework through which the intersections of the normative, instrumental, and identity aspects of dual citizenship are brought to light in relation to the claimant's positionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that the citizen owes allegiance to his or her state has long historical roots, and has been repeatedly affirmed in theory and in law. Revocation of citizenship has a long history, too. The most recent Australian example is the 2015 amendment to the Australian Citizenship Act (2007) which provides for the citizenship revocation of terrorists who have demonstrably 'repudiated their allegiance to Australia.' Further Australian examples include the constitutional disqualification from parliament of MPs who hold dual citizenship, and proposed tightening of the eligibility criteria for naturalisation to include enhanced affirmations of allegiance, and to associate allegiance with national 'values'. The meaning of allegiance remains, nevertheless elusive, but such examples reveal that the core idea that allegiance to the state must be single and undivided has endured, despite the modern tolerance of dual citizenship. Similarly, the idea that conduct is relevant to citizenship is not new. It is, furthermore, encouraged by many normative theories of citizenship. This paper discusses Australian law as a case-study of allegiance in the conceptualisation of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In line with studies of dual citizenship that point to the need for in-depth understanding of the reasoning behind this legislative change, this study provides an analysis of the discourse that lawmakers parlayed during the debate that resulted in the passage of the Philippine citizenship retention and reacquisition law in 2003. Because of the constitutional prohibition against dual allegiance, legislators constructed a narrative with emotive force to justify emigration as well as naturalization in the destination, the latter act portrayed as devoid of political love that Filipinos supposedly reserve for the homeland. Emblematic of affective citizenship even while the state actually instrumentalized it, the passage of the law affirmed a traditional notion of exclusive singular citizenship, while concomitantly providing indirect tolerance of dual, nonexclusive citizenship for conationals overseas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sheds light on what citizenship means for individuals’ experiences of belonging. Through 41 interviews conducted in Oslo, Norway, we trace understandings of how, when and why citizenship matters (or not) for belonging. Our interviewees fall into one of four categories: born citizens; naturalized citizens; dual citizens and non-Norwegian citizens who would qualify for naturalization, thus mixing participants with and without immigrant backgrounds. We interpret individuals’ experiences evaluating whether formal citizenship is explicitly or implicitly salient and whether it is associated with secure or insecure belonging. We find that citizenship matters for security and recognition, both linked to belonging, in expected and unexpected ways. Our findings point to how, when and why citizenship matters (or not) for belonging, constituting the citizenship-belonging nexus. Here, race continues to matter, as does the materiality of the passport document, in how the citizenship-belonging nexus interacts with the nation as locus of membership for citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on diaspora engagement policies, transnational and extra-territorial citizenship has painted the increasing recognition of dual nationality and the extension of state policies to the diaspora as a signal of states leaving behind the paradigms of exclusive nationality and residence as conditions to exercise citizenship. In doing this, this literature tends to treat citizenship and nationality as synonyms. By analysing the citizenship policies of 22 Latin American and Caribbean states towards their nationals who reside abroad and/or acquire another nationality, we add key nuances to such consideration: nationality and citizenship may relate to different legal statuses – with important consequences for migrants – and there might be differences also between the citizen rights of nationals by origin and of nationals by naturalization. In particular, we show that citizenship and nationality interact in different ways when it comes to the preservation of rights for emigrants: the distinctions allow restricting the portability of citizenship rights for nationals by birth, and other groups of nationals, depending on the exclusivity, and origin, of their national belonging. These distinctions tell a potentially different story of how citizenship is conceived of by states as they approach the challenges of membership and participation posed by emigration, and paint a less rosy picture with regard to the demise of exclusive nationality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As a twenty-first century post-war, emigrant-sending country, Liberia reflects global citizenship norms while simultaneously departing from them, and this unique positioning offers new opportunities to theorise citizenship across spatial and temporal landscapes. In this article, I examine ‘Liberian citizenship’ construction through a historical prism, arguing that as Liberia transformed from a country of immigration to one of emigration, so too did conceptualisations of citizenship – moving from passive, identity-based citizenship emphasising rights and entitlements to more active, practice-based citizenship privileging duties and responsibilities. Given the dynamic trends in citizenship configuration across the globe and particularly in Africa, this article fills gaps in the growing body of literature on citizenship and participation in emigrant-sending countries by contributing to wider debates about how identities, practices and relations between people transform in the aftermath of violent conflict. Empirical evidence presented is based on multi-sited fieldwork conducted in 2012 and 2013 with 202 Liberians in urban centres in West Africa, North America and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to promote an integrated approach to the study of citizenship policies, which pays due attention to their potential impact on migrants whose self-recognition are formally delimited by legal definitions. Through a novel approach that makes use of naturalisation processes as an empirical entry point into the narratives of citizenship embraced by Turkish migrants, this article investigates the role of dual citizenship policies in three European countries: Spain, the Netherlands and the UK. The evidence from the sample group displays a process of ‘self-bargaining’ prior to the naturalisation decision, which calls into question the link established between legal and emotional bonds of citizenship. The Dutch example demonstrates how Turkish migrants cope with the ban on dual citizenship by downplaying the identity-conferring role of citizenship status. This leads to a decoupling of legal and emotional aspects of citizenship and thereby to the adoption of a thin sense of citizenship. While Spain represents an in-between case that has a tolerant implementation despite ade jureban, the British example shows how the process of ‘self-bargaining’ can result in the widening of emotional landscape, when dual citizenship is allowed. A thick sense of citizenship is therefore not only preserved but it can also be extended to the citizenship of the country of residence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article studies the multiple connections between contemporary structures of German and Turkish citizenship, and German-Turkish migrants' own practices of citizenship transcending national borders. Hence, the citizenship structures of the two countries and the ways in which they shape and are shaped by the migrants' civic activism shall be exposed in a dialogical way. It will be argued that German-Turks constitute a transnational space, making it imperative that the existing institutions of citizenship in both countries respond to their globalized and transnationalized experiences. Addressing the literature on transnational space, citizenship studies, diaspora studies and cultural studies, and referring to a survey conducted among German-Turks, this work will briefly refer to the production of transnational space by immigrants of Turkish origin and their descendants in Germany and the use they make of the means of globalization, which provide them with a set of diversified habitats of meaning away from their country of origin. Subsequently, it will claim that the traditional framework of national citizenship has been superseded as transmigrants have become mobile between their countries of origin and of settlement in a way that may require dual citizenship as well as dual loyalty, allegiance and orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dual/multiple citizenship has become a widespread phenomenon in many parts of the world. This acceptance or tolerance of overlapping memberships in political communities represents an important element in the ongoing readjustment of the relationship between citizens and political communities in democratic systems. This article has two goals and parts. First, it evaluates dual citizenship from the perspective of five normative theories of democracy. Liberal and republican as well as multicultural and deliberative understandings of democracy deliver a broad spectrum of arguments in favour of dual citizenship. Only communitarians fear that dual citizenship endangers national democracies. Nevertheless, empirical evidence and national policies largely contradict these fears. The second part of the article reverses the perspective and shows that most theories of democracy do not only legitimate and facilitate the acceptance of dual citizenship – the phenomenon of multiple citizenships induces innovation in democratic theory in turn. A second look at the relationship between dual citizenship and theories of democracy reveals that dual citizenship stimulates refinements, expansions and reconceptualisations of these theories for a transnationalising world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Issues about migrant rights and protection are raised in cases of return migration when the country that migrants return to prohibits dual citizenship although the migrant has naturalised elsewhere. This article explores the politics of membership and rights faced by former citizens returning to reside in the society they had left. Returning Mainland Chinese migrants with Canadian citizenship status have to navigate China's dual citizenship restriction and the impacts on their Chinese hukou status that confers residency, employment and social rights. This analysis also keeps in view their relationship with the country in which they have naturalised and left, namely Canada. Migrants shuttling between the two countries face a citizenship dilemma as they have limited rights in China whereas their status as Canadian citizens living abroad simultaneously removes them from some rights provided by the Canadian state. This paper thus introduces new and pressing questions about citizenship in the light of return migration trends. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With reference to three secondary schools in Beijing, this study investigates students' perceptions of multiple identities at four levels - self, local, national, and global - and the ways in which students form multiple identities. The study uses a mixed methodology of questionnaires and interview surveys to collect data, and identifies four patterns of Beijing students' multiple identities: a high value on self-identity, a strong affective orientation toward local and national identity, minimal distinction between local and national identities, and an imagined global identity. This study provides empirical data that both supplements and challenges the existing literature on citizenship and citizenship education in the context of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers have redefined citizenship to better understand the membership status aspired and demanded by contemporary migrants. As a result, the concept of 'membership' as opposed to citizenship was proposed in delineating the decoupling between citizenship and nationality; immigrant demands for rights and state policies in response can thereby be interpreted without considering the political meanings of citizenship. However, the decoupling of citizenship and national identity can be challenged when it comes to dual citizenship, especially when the homeland and host states are engaged in political tensions. This article examines the shifting policies of China (the People's Republic of China, or PRC) and Taiwan (the Republic of China, or ROC) towards the citizenship conferred to Taiwanese migrants in China. The findings of this research suggest that political dimension (including political rights and obligations) should be regarded as an integral part of citizenship (i.e. national membership) especially in the rival-state context. The Taiwan-China case can contribute to our understanding of citizenship policy changes under the double pressure of inter-state rivalry and globalization. The globalizing forces help create conditions for 'flexible citizenship' in the 'zones of hypergrowth', while in the case of Taiwan-China inter-state competition draws governments and people back to zones of loyalty, the nationally defined memberships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades, relations between African emigrants and their home-states have been changing from antagonism to attempts to embrace and structure emigrant behaviors. This transformation in the conception of emigration and citizenship has hardly been interrogated by the growing scholarship on African and global migrations. Three of the most contentious strategies to extend the frontiers of loyalty of otherwise weak African states, namely dual citizenship or dual nationality, the right to vote from overseas, and the right to run for public office by emigrants from foreign locations are explored. Evidence from a wide range of African emigration states suggests that these strategies are neither an embrace of the global trend toward extra-territorialized states and shared citizenship between those at 'home' and others outside the state boundaries, nor are they about national development or diaspora welfare. Instead, they seem to be strategies to tap into emigrant resources to enhance weakened state power. The study interrogates the viability and advisability of emigrant voting and political participation from foreign locations, stressing their tendency to destabilize homeland political power structures, undermine the nurturing of effective diaspora mobilization platforms in both home and host states, and export homeland political practices to diaspora locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple citizenship has in recent decades moved from an unwanted phenomenon in international relations to a fairly common transnational status. Multiple citizenship has nevertheless so far been studied mainly as a political and juridical status by comparing national legislations. Much less notice has been given to actual dual citizens' citizen participation and construction of citizens' identities. Only when citizenship is studied as these kinds of practices do the hypothetic possibilities and problems associated with the status get their meanings and contents. This paper concentrates on examining dual citizens' identifications to their respective citizenships and how these affiliations transfer into possible citizen participation. Results are based on extensive analysis of survey (n = 335) and interviews (n = 48) carried out among dual citizens living in Finland. Contents and forms of dual citizens' national identification and citizen participation were reviewed through ideal types: resident-mononationals, expatriate-mononationals, hyphenationals, and shadow-nationals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an interesting debate about democracy and citizenship in the EU. Views diverge about the features of democratic deficits currently facing the EU and accordingly, about the scope for Union citizenship. The paper suggests an analytical distinction between asymmetric and symmetric normative models of dual - national and Union - citizenship. Moreover, it proposes an alternative model of dual citizenship that puts emphasis on the responsiveness of citizens vis-a-vis phenomena that undermine democratic governance and the claim for equal respect and concern. One of the main ideas of responsive citizenship is that effective democratic control should complement procedural legitimacy in the EU as a means to prevent phenomena of political domination and guardianship. This is possible through the combination of competences ascribed on citizens through national and Community legislation vis-a-vis national and Union executive bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the responses to the mass evacuation of approximately 15,000 Canadian citizens from Lebanon during the Israeli-Hezbollah war of 2006. The Canadian state went to extraordinary lengths to provide for the safety of its citizens, despite the fact that they were living outside the territorial confines of the nation. However, the evacuation was complicated by the fact that many of the people provided security were not just citizens, but dual citizens. The provision of security to these subjects had the paradoxical effect of provoking a controversy about the status of dual citizenship within Canada. If dual citizenship is designed to make sense of the multiple connections and feelings of belonging that exist under conditions of globalization, then these design elements begin to fail once the limit question of security and protection comes into play. This article utilizes Cynthia Weber's typology of the design elements of 'safe citizenship' - dying, caring, and immersing for one's country - and problematizes them in relation to dual citizenship. Dual citizenship raises a number of challenges for designing safe citizenship: Which country does one die for and in what context? What are the responsibilities of the second country to secure citizens in these cases? Care for which country? How do dual citizens immerse themselves into network society when they are living abroad? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study reviews the politics underlying the 2004 referendum in Hungary on whether the country should offer extraterritorial, non-resident citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living in the neighboring states of Romania, Slovakia, Serbia-Montenegro and the Ukraine. The study argues that the issue of dual citizenship for ethnic minorities and kin-states in Central and Eastern Europe is quite distinct from the issue of dual citizenship in West European immigration countries. Transborder ethnic relatives make up large proportions of some of the contiguous countries with whom Hungary has a long history of border disputes which is why the Hungarian reform initiative touched upon sensitive issues connected to the sovereignty of these states. In addition, the large size of the non-resident Hungarian population means that their potential Hungarian citizenship would have serious consequences for the Hungarian welfare state, and the determination of the political future of Hungary, where even much smaller numbers of voting non-residents might swing the vote. The article outlines the arguments that were made in favor of the reform by the political right and those against the reform by the left. It examines the initiative from the European Union's perspective and compares the Hungarian case to cases of dual citizenship in other countries of Europe. The article also raises questions about the long-term implications of this form of dual citizenship for the “re-ethnicization” of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we unpack the concept of dual citizenship in relation to the meaning of sovereignty claims in situations of political exception. We take up two contending analytical frameworks to examine dual citizenship. The first framework examines dual citizenship as a human right, and makes liberal legal arguments about the increased rights and privileges afforded to dual citizens. The second framework, which we develop here, examines dual citizenship as a form of hierarchical citizenship, whose genealogy owes substantially to orientalist mythologies, and whose technologies of governance work through securitized state policies and practices of flexible sovereignty. As a form of hierarchical citizenship, dual nationality produces hyphenated citizenships that exist on a transnational plane, yet are always rooted in relations among particular nation-states. Some of the recent cases of extraordinary rendition, detention, and torture of dual national men of Muslim and Arab background will be discussed to illuminate the securitization and racialization of diplomatic protection. While citizenship is not a standard set of rights available to all, the cases we examine reveal that dual citizens with “dangerous” nationalities caught up within the post-9/11 security paradigm may find themselves as unprotected persons, existing in a vacuum devoid of diplomatic protection, human and citizenship rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]