2019 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 1(1) political theorists and historians in developing my own understanding of nationality and statelessness, in theory and in practice. The decision to establish the field of statelessness studies as explicitly multi-disciplinary would cement this kind of collaborative exchange as a defining characteristic of the area of study. It is true that prominent legal scholars have long observed ‘the decline of law as an autonomous discipline’, 9 and my proposal may coincidentally reflect an approach that many in the legal academy have embraced as the optimal way to engage in legal studies. Nevertheless, it is not my intention to make a contribution to the scholarship on the nature of law as a discipline. Indeed, whether statelessness studies should be a multi-disciplinary field is a separate question than whether the study of law should be an autonomous discipline. That said, my proposal that statelessness scholars embrace a multi-disciplinary approach to our field is a reflection of my discontent with a formalistic legal understanding of statelessness. I will take a brief moment to elaborate on my discontent because it is an important part of the conversation about the field of study in general. I have observed that the focus on the eradication of legal statelessness has in some instances dulled critiques against states that propose resolving their statelessness problem by insisting that another state extend its nationality. The example I am most familiar with is that of the Dominican Republic, where Dominican authorities have created a pink birth certificate for the children of irregular migrants, who are overwhelmingly of Haitian descent, 10 and compelled them under law to register in the consulate of their parents. 11 To the extent that the Haitian government has been able to extend nationality documents to children born to its citizens in the Dominican Republic, that process is incomplete, and tens of thousands of people face a risk of statelessness. 12 The Dominican government has responded to charges that such actions have left Dominicans of Haitian descent stateless, or at severe risk of statelessness, with forceful statements that all such individuals are Haitian. 13 Under pressure in this regard, the UNHCR has reduced its estimate of the number of stateless persons in the Dominican Republic from 133,770 in 2015 to zero in 2016, suggesting that the Dominican strategy of reclassifying its citizens of Haitian descent has gained traction. 14 Here, the focus 9 10 11 12 13 14 Richard A Posner, ‘The Decline of Law as an Autonomous Discipline: 1962–1987’ (1987) 100 Harvard Law Review 761, 761. Chelsea Muir, ‘“Foreigner” Birth Certificates and Statelessness in the Dominican Republic’, (2017) (December) Berkeley Public Policy Journal <https://bppj.berkeley.edu/2017/12/01/foreigner-birth-certificates-and-statelessness-in-thedominican-republic/>. Ley General de Migración No 285-04 [General Migration Law No 285-04] (Dominican Republic) GO No 10291, 15 August 2004, art 36. Catherine A Tobin, ‘No Child is an Island: The Predicament of Statelessness for Children in the Caribbean’ (2015) 1(1) International Human Rights Law Journal 1, 6. David Baluarte, ‘The Risk of Statelessness: Reasserting a Rule for the Protection of the Right to Nationality’ (2017) 19(1–2) Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal 47. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Statistical Yearbooks are available at: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, ‘Statistical Yearbooks’ <https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/statistical-yearbooks.html>. 158