I. HISTORY AND CONTEXT Introduction Equally secure citizenship for all in the United States is not a given and must be defended. That thesis is central to this report, and can be best understood by first examining the history of U.S. citizenship and how it compares to that of other countries. This section draws on U.S. history and comparative international information to underline the vulnerability of citizenship law to being distorted for nationalistic purposes. International legal standards constraining state discretion over nationality matters are included to provide a context for assessing the appropriateness of U.S. policies and practices, and to reflect the standards to which the United States should be held, but historically has avoided. The report looks at three comparative contexts—the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom, and Canada—which were chosen for the lessons they offer to U.S. actors.14 The Dominican Republic received extensive international criticism in 2013 after a Constitutional Tribunal decision stripped nationality from thousands of Dominicans of I. History and Context 19