4 MANLY AND van waas volume of literature on statelessness has grown significantly in recent years. It no longer seems to make sense to waste energy or space discussing the scarcity of statelessness research. Reports, papers and articles on statelessness are being published at a pace not seen previously. While they are hardly coming ‘fast and furious’, there is enough activity to conclude that statelessness has ‘arrived’ as a recognised focus of both academic and policy-oriented study. Thus, while many gaps in our understanding of statelessness remain, due to the long period of neglect, it is time to shake off this difficult history, take stock of the state of research on statelessness and develop a research agenda and fora to exchange and discuss findings. Statelessness is now a legitimate area of research in its own right.1 The dedication of this special edition of the Tilburg Law Review to statelessness is therefore timely: its publication coinciding with this watershed in academic engagement on the issue. To help introduce and contextualise the further articles in this special edition, the present piece provides an overview of and commentary on the current state of statelessness research. An Evolving Area of Research Statelessness is a legal anomaly. The term describes the absence of the legal bond of nationality. International law provides us with the definition of a ‘stateless person’.2 Individual states’ nationality law determines the conditions under which nationality is acquired or lost, holding the key to both the creation and the resolution of statelessness. The right to a nationality is a fundamental right, espoused by human rights law3 and given concrete expression in the safeguards against statelessness prescribed in international legal instruments.4 And international law elaborates the minimum standard of treatment that is to be enjoyed by stateless persons.5 1 In the past, much of the work that was done on statelessness stemmed from research that focused on a related phenomenon – be it nationality, forced displacement, minority rights or otherwise. Today, an increasing body of work has statelessness as a starting point. 2 A person ‘who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law’. Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (adopted 28 September 1954, entered into force 6 June 1960) 189 UNTS 117, art 1. 3 For instance, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948 UNGA Res 217 A(III) (UDHR) art 15 and Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990) 1577 UNTS , art 7. 4 Including in the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (adopted 30 Augustus 1961, entered into force 13 December 1975) 989 UNTS 175. 5 Including in the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (n 2), as well as in the broad body of human rights law that protects the rights of everyone within a state’s jurisdiction, regardless of nationality or statelessness. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 3-10