2020
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
2(2)
and Roma in former Yugoslav states. 20 All these cases of statelessness have their
origins in crucial moments when a new definition of ‘people’ has become
dominant in different contexts.
Among the many powerful moments included in Shaw’s book, I was
particularly struck by her re-centring of certain debates around citizenship. She
shows that the Windrush scandal in the United Kingdom should be discussed in
the domain of citizenship, rather than migration studies. 21 Presenting people from
the Windrush generation primarily as migrants masks the real context of how
British citizenship transformed from a concept that initially included the
subject/citizen dichotomy. 22 Similarly, this principle is discussed in regards to the
cases of Thoms and Love v the Commonwealth of Australia, where the question
properly revolved around citizenship rather than migration. 23 Such a shift is
extremely important for the future of citizenship studies. It is too often that
marginalised minorities are excluded from the definition of ‘the people’: their
position is not primarily discussed as one of citizens but rather as minorities or, in
many cases, migrants.
With the central concept of the constitutional citizen and its interrelation with
the definition of people in turbulent times, Shaw’s incredible book not only
presented empirically rich material from a vast variety of contexts, but also
developed a powerful analytical apparatus that will keep on inspiring many future
generations of citizenship scholars (be they lawyers, political scientists,
sociologist or historians) in their analysis of citizenship amidst the unsettled
conditions we have been witnessing since 2020. Nonetheless, the concept of
constitutional citizens can prove to be a powerful tool used in international courts,
such as the ECtHR and Inter-American Court of Human Rights, especially when
considering the position of marginalised minorities and indigenous peoples.
20
21
22
23
Julija Sardelić, ‘Romani Minorities and Uneven Citizenship Access in the Post-Yugoslav
Space’ (2015) 14(2) Ethnopolitics 159. For more on statelessness see Natalie Baird,
‘Constitutions, Citizenship and the Shadow of Statelessness’ (2020) 2(2) Statelessness &
Citizenship Review 377.
Fiona Bawdon, ‘Remember When Windrush Was Still Just the Name of a Ship?’ in Devyani
Prabhat (ed), Citizenship in Times of Turmoil: Theory, Practice and Policy (Edward Elgar
2019) 173.
Shaw (n 1).
Thoms and Love v Commonwealth of Australia [2020] HCA 3 (High Court of Australia).
388