Part I. Introduction and Context nationality means, follows. In order to answer the aforementioned main question, the following sub questions are considered: A. What is the distinctive (European) context in which European law concerning the prevention of and solutions to statelessness operates? B. How does European law made by the Council of Europe (CoE) contribute to preventing and solving statelessness in Europe? C. How does European law made by the European Union (EU) contribute to preventing and solving statelessness in Europe? D. What does European law on preventing and solving statelessness contribute to the broader understanding of nationality in Europe? In this first chapter, the research design is further outlined. In particular, attention is paid to the research questions, research methods and sources, definitions of key concepts, relevance of the research, and the analytical framework for this study. The latter includes the international legal context in which the European legal instruments need to be understood. Chapter 2 of this dissertation aims to gain a better understanding of the ‘real-world’ European context in which European law on preventing and solving statelessness is operating. It does so by exploring the causes and responses to statelessness in European history, starting from some decades before World War I – given the developments that led to large-scale emergence of statelessness in that period – until now, in order to understand the current situation with regard to this issue in Europe. Chapter 2, together with section 1.5 of this chapter, provides an answer to sub question A. Chapters 1 and 2 make up Part I of this book: introduction and context. Together, these two chapters demonstrate the involvement of European states in the development of both international and European norms relating to statelessness and nationality matters. Chapter 1 highlights – as part of this book’s analytical framework – how the right to a nationality is legally interpreted at the international level and in other regions of the world. In chapter 2, we zoom in on context and the historical and factual reasons for the development of legal standards on statelessness at the European level. The question here is which factors – in addition to the legal ones, i.e. the right to a nationality as laid down in international and human rights law and the way in which this is given substance – are relevant to preventing and solving statelessness. Chapter 2 thus considers the differences between the problems that exist(ed) ‘on the ground’ with regard to statelessness and nationality and the legal responses, in which politics of course play an important role. Part II then continues from that and examines the legal interpretation of the right to a nationality by the two important European cooperation mechanisms: the CoE and the EU. Chapter 3 consists of identifying and analyzing the legal norms on preventing and solving statelessness of the CoE, thus answering sub question B. Chapter 4 considers the legal instruments of the EU that could contribute to preventing and solving 6 Intersentia