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The Great Divide: Citizenship And Statelessness, Kristy Belton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the implications of State control of citizenship upon the individual's ability to choose membership in a given State polity. It briefly examines how States gained absolute control over the granting, denying and revoking of citizenship and demonstrates how the acquisition of citizenship and statelessness are both State-determined statuses. The repercussions of statelessness at the individual, regional and global levels are presented to demonstrate the severity of being unable to choose a citizenship. Efforts made by States and the international community to prevent and reduce statelessness are examined in order to illustrate the lack of prioritization given to …