This article explores the evolution of naturalization in Western Europe and the United States from the early modern period to the end of the nineteenth century. It discusses three phases: naturalization as an economic privilege in the early modern period; naturalization as a grant of political rights reserved for a minority of the population; and naturalization as access to membership to a community of equals. It argues that naturalization, while mainly relevant to individuals moving from one country to another, also involved aspects of multilateralism throughout: naturalized citizens possess a status negotiated by their original and new states of membership, but this status can also be of great relevance in interaction with third countries.

Andreas Fahrmeir, Citizens in limbo: naturalization concepts between privilege and membership in 19th-Century Western Europe and the United States, Citizenship Studies, 2021.

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This article forms part of the special issue Citizenship Matters: Assessing the History, Regulation and Lived Experiences of Naturalization from the Global Perspective edited by Elisabeth Badenhoop.