418 L. van Waas, S. Jaghai denationalisation can take place upon long term residence abroad, not fulfilling military duties, or if a person is a threat to national security—unless it leads to statelessness.25 This means, in effect, that states can only apply denationalisation measures to dual or multiple citizens: they can be cast out of the political community in response to undesirable behaviour, whereas mono nationals involved in similar acts are not subject to this measure. By making citizenship for naturalised and dual citizens conditional upon good behaviour, citizenship becomes a less secure status for specific groups of citizens and a less equal status. Citizenship stripping is an instrument that enables states to treat nationality policy as complementary to immigration laws, to continue to control inclusion and exclusion of citizens with a migrant background. As Macklin describes, deprivation of nationality allows states to affect a ‘two-step exile: first, strip citizenship; second, deport the newly minted alien’.26 Such deportation can affect people who have lived their entire lives or a large part of their lives in the country, have their family in the country, speak the language and do not know any other country as their home. When revoking someone’s nationality, it not only shows the unequal status of citizenship, it also results in unequal exposure to the risk of deportation and exclusion.27 Unequal deprivation measures also affect society as a whole and undermine important democratic values. Citizenship is an enabler of social cohesion as it creates a feeling of belonging and equality. If it is made conditional for only specific groups of citizens, i.e. naturalised and dual citizens, this disrupts (efforts towards) social cohesion. Threatening specific groups with denationalisation measures creates a divide between those who are deemed ‘real’ citizens and ‘others’, underpinning a divide between ‘native citizens’ and those with a migratory background that can have a deep impact on the whole community. As we see in other fields, there is a growing intolerance for making distinctions between sub-groups of citizens. For instance, in the past decade, the Dutch government has formally ceased its use of the terms ‘allochthones’ and ‘autochthones’ in its internal and public communications because they were identified to be highly charged terms that have an exclusionary and degrading effect on groups of citizens.28 This confirms the need to also re-assess other distinctions with similar effect that are made between groups of citizens, including through denationalisation measures. The article will return to this matter later. 25 It should be noted that acquisition of another nationality can still result in loss of nationality in various circumstances. There are several regional analyses available of present-day provisions regarding deprivation of nationality, including, Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT) (2017), Manby (2016), Van Waas (2014). 26 Macklin (2014). 27 Rubenstein and Lenagh-Maguire (2014). 28 Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid (2016), p. 1. 123