Mandated Membership, Diluted Identity: Citizenship, Globalization, and International Law

Abstract:     
This essay situates citizenship practices in the frame of international law frame. To the extent that international law has in the past constrained state citizenship practices, it has been on a boundary management basis. States were constrained in membership decisions only to the extent that such decisions trespassed on the rights of other states. Recent trends suggest a shift to an individual rights orientation, which will give rise to cases of mandated membership. This developments are a logical extension of the human rights revolution and the triumph of liberalism as the metric of international norms. However, dictating access to membership may ultimately undermine rights to the extent that it dilutes social solidarities that are foundational to the liberal state.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 26

Keywords: citizenship, nationality, international law

working papers series