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Multiple identities are natural. Citizenship laws should catch up
Jan 7th 2012 | The Economist
SEEN from the state’s point of view, multiple citizenship is at best untidy and at worst a menace. Officials would prefer you to be born, live, work, pay taxes, draw benefits and die in the same place, travel on one passport only, and bequeath only one nationality to your offspring. In wartime the state has a unique call on your loyalty—and perhaps your life. Citizenship is the glue keeping individual and state together. Tamper with it, and the relationship comes unstuck.
But life is more complicated than that. Loyalty to political entities need not be exclusive: indeed, it often overlaps. Many Jews hold Israeli passports in solidarity with the Jewish state (and as an insurance policy), alongside citizenship of their native country. Teutons may be proud to be simultaneously Bavarian, German and European. Irish citizens can vote in British elections. The old notion of one-man, one-state citizenship looks outdated: more than 200m people now live and work outside the countries in which they were born—but still wish to travel home, or marry or invest there. [Read more]
— Post #1120
Comments
Interesting article. It makes sense to me.
I have been/am a non-citizen/citizen in three countries. While I maintain citizenship (passport) only with my country of birth (Guyana), I experience oneness with the Brazilian people and am forging new connections with my present homeland (USA).