In the European Union (EU) the issue of citizenship can be brought to the supranational level because the citizenship of EU Member States is also EU citizenship. This provides certain opportunities for engaging the norms and principles of EU law, such as the principle of proportionality. However, ethnic and other nationalisms undermine the application of the principle of proportionality as regards access to and loss of citizenship.
In February 2021, the Supreme Court decided that Shamima Begum should not be allowed back into the UK to conduct her appeal against the deprivation of her citizenship. This decision is a victory for discretionary use of expansive state powers under minimal judicial scrutiny.
Kickoff contribution by Bronwen Manby. Comments by Diego Acosta, Irene Bloemraad, Barbara von Ruette, Sanzhuan Guo , Sujata Ramachandran , Erin Aeran Chung, Christine Hobden, Alfred Babo, Luicy Pedroza, Imke Harbers,Amal de Chickera, Yonatan T. Fessha, Lillian Frost, Ibrahima KaneRainer Bauböck and, Bronwen Manby
Three of GLOBALCIT’s co-directors (Rainer Bauböck, Jelena Džankić and Jo Shaw) want to welcome Professor Maarten Vink’s appointment as Professor of Citizenship Studies at the European University Institute, within the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. Congratulations on this richly deserved accolade!
Davide Pala,
The Naturalization of the Vulnerable: An International Responsibility with Demanding Implications, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 2026. Read More …
The blog-post considers what the recent election of a Member of the Scottish Parliament list for the duration of the next Scottish Parliament (five years) with limited leave to remain the UK to means for the effects of temporality on representation Read More …
In 2024, the Global Citizenship Observatory launched the GLOBALCIT– Rainer Bauböck Essay Award on the Global State of Citizenship. The Award aims to encourage and highlight original thinking by early-career scholars on a topic related to present and future challenges Read More …
Madeline-Sophie Abbas (Lancaster University) Background: Al-Hol camp The abrupt and uncoordinated closure of al-Hol camp on 22 February 2026 has reignited debates concerning the repatriation of those who travelled to Islamic State territory hoping to be returned to their country Read More …
Rainer Bauböck,
Climate cosmopolitanism: broadening and deepening citizenship in response to the climate crisis, Ethics & Global Politics,
2026. Read More …
In 1975 hundreds of thousands of Dutch citizens involuntarily lost their citizenship overnight. They were assigned the citizenship of the newly independent Suriname. This blog sheds light on the law effectuating this mass-denationalization, which is still in effect today, and considers the potential impact of contemporary national and European legal norms on its contemporary application. Read More …
With hundreds of thousands of Syrian Kurds having been deprived of citizenship since the 1960s, recent acknowledgement of their suffering by the current Syrian authorities is welcome. The context in which this took place, however, has left many Kurds feeling conflicted and critical about the unprecedented initiative. Situating historic experiences of statelessness and their continued legacy within a transitional justice framework in any meaningful way will require concerted, good-faith trust-building with this long-marginalised constituency. Read More …
Bronwen Manby,
Filling the Holes in the Rights Framework: Statelessness, Racial Discrimination, Genuine Connections and the Right to a (Specific) Nationality,
International & Comparative Law Quarterly,
2026. Read More …
