2011/10/01 by Peter J. Spiro · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Political Systems and Governance #Human Rights and Immigration #European Union Policy and Governance
paper · doi:10.5305/amerjintelaw.105.4.0694
openalex publication_date 2011/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Will international law colonize the last bastion of sovereign discretion? As a matter of traditional doctrine, international law has had little to say about the citizenship practices of states and the terms on which states determine the boundaries of their memberships. Through much of the Westphalian era, states have been essentially unconstrained with respect to who gets citizenship and on what terms. Historically, citizenship status has been considered a matter of national self-definition, jealously insulated more as a matter of reflex than justification. Nationality has been equated with identity, in most cases coinciding with ethnic, religious, or other sociocultural community markers, which, in turn, have more or less mapped onto territorial spaces.