At Home in Two Countries: The Past and Future of Dual Citizenship

Citizenship and Migration in the Americas

by Peter J. Spiro

The rise of dual citizenship could hardly have been imaginable to a time traveler from a hundred or even fifty years ago. Dual nationality was once considered an offense to nature, an abomination on the order of bigamy. It was the stuff of titanic battles between the United States and European sovereigns. As those conflicts dissipated, dual citizenship continued to be an oddity, a condition that, if not quite freakish, was nonetheless vaguely disreputable, a status one could hold but not advertise. Even today, some Americans mistakenly understand dual citizenship to somehow be "illegal", when in fact it is completely tolerated. Only recently has the status largely shed the opprobrium to which it was once attached.

At Home in Two Countries charts the history of dual citizenship from strong disfavor to general acceptance. The status has touched many; there are few Americans who do not have someone in their past or present who has held the status, if only unknowingly. The history reflects on the course of the state as an institution at the level of the individual. The state was once a jealous institution, justifiably demanding an exclusive relationship with its members. Today, the state lacks both the capacity and the incentive to suppress the status as citizenship becomes more like other forms of membership. Dual citizenship allows many to formalize sentimental attachments. For others, it's a new way to game the international system. This book explains why dual citizenship was once so reviled, why it is a fact of life after globalization, and why it should be embraced today.

Genres: History

208 pages, Hardcover

Published June 7, 2016

Reviews

[Meg - find me on TSG · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a dual citizen, this was a super interesting read and overview of how views and acceptance of the status have changed over time. The two most interesting things I learned are:

1. Despite the State Department being okay with the status generally, I'm unlikely to ever get a government job requiring security clearance.
2. Spain, in some effort at righting 500 year old wrongs, has a law that allows descendants of Sephardic Jews to acquire Spanish citizenship!

Next person who interrogates me on the subject wanting to know if it's allowed and such is going to get a lot longer answer than they bargained for!!

[Bastian Greshake Tzovaras · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars I'd say. The book is very US centric for long parts, even if the latter chapters catch up on a more global view. Interesting all in all, but probably more so if you have some ties to the US citizenship laws.