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This article argues that the qualities associated with citizenship were put under increased pressure by the dissolution of states that followed the wars and the collapse of empires in the mid-twentieth century. The reconfigured states faced the challenge of redefining their national identity and, consequently, their relationship with the constituent populations. Displacements, both internal and across redrawn borders, were a frequent occurrence. The introduction argues that the experiences of what Arendt terms ‘national minorities’ demonstrate the inconsistencies in the protection offered to citizens whose ethnicity or race differed from the state’s imagined ideal citizen. Structured in two parts, this special issue examines firstly the response of states and finds that they wield citizenship law as a means of shaping and regulating their national identity. Secondly, it examines the implications of displacement for citizens, and their new cultural distinctiveness and sense of belonging that contribute to constructions of citizenship.