2019 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 1(1) unbelonging for hundreds of thousands of people across the continent. 20 The case of former Burundian refugees in Tanzania, however, provides a somewhat more positive example in which naturalisation was offered to a significant number of people who had been living in exile for decades. While in practice the process has continued to encounter challenges, she points to this as an example that shows that naturalisation and local integration are possible where there is sufficient political will. 21 In her conclusion Manby returns once more to the reality that citizenship is not just a legal concept but is political in nature. 22 While this is certainly the case all over the world, the specific historical context and the arbitrary creation of the nation-state in Africa has exacerbated many of these challenges found elsewhere. Yet while she identifies imprecise, suboptimal or discriminatory laws as being part of the problem, she also points to the reform of citizenship law as a potential component in managing and resolving many of the problems inherited by the postcolonial state. 23 As others have argued, therefore, access to citizenship is both the problem and the solution. 24 Drawing together many of the themes that have been discussed in the book, she emphasises the fact that despite lack of regulation in many places, and despite the weakness of the state in some places — in fact, often because of it — citizenship really does matter. Lack of nationality impacts even those living in the most liminal of spaces. And with an increased emphasis on documentation, the multiple challenges and issues outlined in the book are only going to increase. The book, therefore, ends with a call to action for ‘research and reform’ 25 that returns, once more, to the reality that despite its multiple dysfunctions, the state in Africa is ‘deeply implicated in the lives of even the poorest and most remote Africans’. 26 Questions of identity, therefore, are not beyond the reach of the state and have to be dealt with accordingly. 27 Again, citizenship matters. To the extent that the law and its application is part of the solution to the multiple challenges facing many African states, Manby points to widespread failures around naturalisation (due to the emphasis on an overwhelming descentbased framing of nationality) as a core area in need of urgent reform. And this reform reflects the reality that belonging needs to be embedded in national and local legitimacy simultaneously. As she argues, ‘[f]or most people, the broader citizenship rights associated with legal status are exercised at the local level’. 28 In sum, therefore, this book presents a detailed description of the legal mechanisms of citizenship and their impact on the continent, but does so in tandem with a strong historical and political understanding of the context in which these mechanisms have evolved and operated. This is its strength: it will appeal to legal scholars who want to understand the detail of legal process, but has relevance to a much wider audience — an audience that will hopefully heed its call to action. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ibid 288–310. ibid 298–302. ibid 311. ibid 335–49. For a wider review of the literature, see, eg, ibid 6. ibid 334. Ibid 337. ibid 334. ibid 343. 194