The thousand paper cuts of oppressive nationality – a rejoinder Neha Jain* One of the many attractive features of a forum debate is that the responses are not merely in dialogue with the lead author, but also with each other. The concept of oppressive nationality, as the range and depth of contributions highlight, is contestable and contested by empiricists, theorists, country experts, and lawyers. It is also, as the contributions by Jelena Džankić and Lindsey Kingston highlight so beautifully, intensely personal, touching upon issues that are central to identity and that continue to be transmitted through generations.314 If there is a tentative common ground in the contributions, it is the acknowledgement that citizenship can be as much a burden as a boon –– though here too, Peter Spiro’s striking metaphor of the paper sword of citizenship queries whether these costs are sufficiently material to warrant concern by international lawyers. Rather than attempting the impossible task of doing justice to these rich responses in a brief rejoinder, I take up their invitation to deepen and clarify the original insight on oppressive citizenship and to think through three main issues that would be implicated in any efforts at the international juridification of the problem: 1) What is the exact harm of oppressive nationality; 2) Who can respond to this harm; and 3) Will a response rooted in an international legal norm generate even greater harms? Is weaponisation a problem and for whom? In his characteristically elegant response, Peter Spiro,315 who finds a sympathetic listener in Lior Erez,316 argues that while oppressive nationality may be problematic, it is only so at the margins. For Spiro, barring rare instances where individuals stand to lose their original nationality due to the unwanted acquisition of a second nationality, the material costs of unwanted nationality are either minimal or difficult to enforce.317 In cases where they do have bite –– for example, the Russian conscription of Crimean residents –– the imposition is already in violation of another international law norm. And Spiro argues that in still other situations, such as the attribution of Comorian citizenship to stateless bidoons, the citizenship may even prove beneficial.318 In canvassing a variety of circumstances that result in unasked for citizenship obligations, Spiro himself weakens the force of his claim. While it is true that each of these cases of unwanted nationality is factually distinct rather than part a broader global pattern, together, they point to the different ways in which states inclined to do so can manipulate citizenship to impose direct and indirect costs on individuals and groups. The bidoons, as Noora Lori reminds us,319 may be Comorian, but only in name, having no right to even reside in their “home” country, much less to ask for its diplomatic protection. Instead, as Lori emphasizes.320 Comorian citizenship has prolonged their limbo status as de facto stateless minority residents in the UAE. Conscription too, does not always categorically violate a non-nationality related international legal rule, as Jelena Džankić shows in her poignant example of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina being turned into flesh and blood weapons to fight as “citizens” of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.321 And––turning our attention to involuntary citizenship attached to residents within sovereign territorial boundaries–– Ramesh Ganohariti322 and Lindsey Kingston323 force us to reckon with the use of citizenship as an assimilationist weapon deployed by * 314 315 316 European University Institute and Northwestern Pritzer School of Law Kingston 2022; Džankić 2022. Spiro 2023. Erez L. (2023), ‘What (Exactly) is Wrong with Weaponising Citizenship?’, GLOBALCIT, Weaponised Citizenship: Should international law restrict oppressive nationality attribution? - Page 11 of 12 - Globalcit (hereinafter ‘Erez 2023’). 317 Spiro 2023. 318 Id. 319 Lori 2023. 320 Lori 2019. 321 Džankić 2022. 322 Ganohariti 2022. 323 Kingston 2022. 51 Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies