Scholars have long posited on the nature of the bond that links a person to a polity. The article, that will be presented during the seminar session, reviews the meaning and essence of ‘links’ from a global perspective to challenge and reassess current assumptions regarding the institution of citizenship. Drawing on the GLOBALCIT database of modes of citizenship acquisition and loss, this article sorts the citizenship laws of 38 countries globally by category of type of link: i) descent and kinship; ii) territory; iii) sponsor; and, iv) merit and contribution (Mantha-Hollands and Dzankic, forthcoming). The outcome will map the countries across the typology to reveal any institutional, regional, or cultural patterns. This offers a comparative descriptive analysis of de jure conceptions of ‘links’. In doing so, the article contributes to citizenship studies by presenting a global review of citizenship laws along the developed typology. For each of the categories of ‘links’ the article then uses theories of social membership to examine which modes of citizenship acquisition and loss are compatible with the principle of ‘genuine links’. As such, providing an analytical tool for assessing the varying nature of citizenship ‘links’.
Organiser:
Prof. Maarten Vink
Speaker:
Ashley Mantha-Hollands (WZB)