Sadiq 2008). The term “effective statelessness” aptly describes the political, social, and even geographic exclusions experienced by those whose own country fails to recognize them as such. My hope for the following discussion is that careful use of concepts specific to the operations of citizenship in question and statelessness in question may better inform ongoing debates about statelessness and the politics of ineffective citizenship. Effective Statelessness: Examples in Latin America Academic inquiry with respect to citizenship in Latin America has tended to focus on equality, participatory democracy, and access to government services rather than acquisition of citizenship status or proof thereof. As a result, statelessness in the Western Hemisphere has drawn little attention, necessitating reliance on reports by government and human rights groups. As a general rule, de jure statelessness in the Western Hemisphere is thought to be uncommon, in large part because predominant migration patterns are into jus soli regimes from countries that also recognize citizenship status for most births occurring outside the nation. In theory, at least, a claim of citizenship as a matter of law would normally exist for the vast majority of the population. The notable exception is the Dominican Republic, which recently changed from a jus soli regime to jus sanguinis, creating an estimated 200,000 stateless persons of Haitian descent (Fullerton 2014, 148). From 1929 until 2010, the Dominican Republic awarded 6 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3150558