Chapter 1. Introduction 1.4.2. NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP From the above paragraph, it is evident that to be stateless means to be without any nationality. In other words: stateless people lack the legal bond of nationality with a state. However, nationality39 and citizenship are, as mentioned above as well, concepts with many dimensions: legal, socio-political and associated not only with legal status, but also with rights and obligations, membership and (national) identity.40 Here, however, the concepts of nationality and citizenship are explored in view of this research’s aim and its connection with (the prevention of and solutions to) the issue of statelessness. The (legal) absence of nationality and/or citizenship, which defines statelessness, is exactly what connects statelessness with these concepts. The lack of nationality can have serious consequences in terms of access to human rights and participation in society for the person involved. But nationality can also solve statelessness. After all, when a stateless person acquires a nationality, (s)he is no longer stateless – from a legal perspective at least. Furthermore, nationality can prevent statelessness, for instance where the nationality of a state is granted to a child born in that country who would otherwise be stateless. Below is considered first what nationality is and what citizenship is from a legal perspective – how can nationality and citizenship be defined? Are these concepts two words to describe the same thing? And how do you (legally) acquire or lose nationality and citizenship? According to a modern English dictionary, nationality is the status of belonging to a particular state.41 From a legal perspective, one of the often-used definitions of nationality is that of the International Court of Justice (ICJ): 39 40 41 The (human) right to nationality and nationality in international law have been the subject of many commentaries over the years, but none of them had a specific focus on preventing and solving statelessness. See for instance WR Bisschop, ‘Nationality in International Law’ (1943) 37 American Journal of International Law 320; Haro Frederik van Panhuys, The Role of Nationality in International Law. An Outline (PhD Thesis Leiden University, AW Sijthoff ’s Uitgeversmaatschappij 1959); Ian Brownlie, ‘The Relations of Nationality in Public International Law’ (1963) 39 British Yearbook of International Law 284; Paul Weis, Nationality and Statelessness in International Law (2nd ed, Sijthoff & Noordhoff 1979); Johannes M M Chan, ‘The Right to a Nationality as a Human Right. The Current Trend Towards Recognition’ (1980) 12 Human Rights Law Journal 1; Ruth Donner, The Regulation of Nationality in International Law (2nd ed, Transnational Publishers, Inc 1994); Kay Hailbronner, ‘Nationality in Public International Law and European Law’, in Rainer Bauböck, Eva Ersbøll, Kees Groenendijk & Harald Waldrauch (eds), Acquisition and Loss of Nationality. Policies and Trends in 15 European States. Vol. 1: Comparative Analyses (Amsterdam University Press 2006) 35–104; Peter J Spiro, ‘A New International Law of Citizenship’ (2011) 105 American Journal of International Law 694; Serena Forlati & Alessandra Annoni, The Changing Role of Nationality in International Law (Routledge 2013); Alice Edwards & Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press 2014); Ernst MH Hirsch Ballin, Citizen’s Rights and the Right to Be a Citizen (Developments in International Law Series Vol 66, Brill Nijhoff 2014); Mónika Ganczer, ‘The Right to a Nationality as a Human Right?’ in Marcel Szabó, Petra Lea Láncos, Réka Varga & Tamás Molnár (eds), Hungarian Yearbook of International Law 2014 (Eleven International Publishing 2015) 15–33; Rhoda E Howard-Hassmann & Margaret WaltonRoberts, The Human Right to Citizenship. A Slippery Concept (University of Pennsylvania Press 2015). Eg Linda Bosniak, The Citizen and the Alien. Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership (Princeton University Press 2006). Eg Lexico – powered by Oxford University Press <https://www.lexico.com/defi nition/nationality> accessed 22 August 2021. Intersentia 15