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Strategy, identity or legitimacy? Analysing engagement with dual citizenship from the bottom-up

Knott, Eleanor ORCID: 0000-0002-9131-3939 (2018) Strategy, identity or legitimacy? Analysing engagement with dual citizenship from the bottom-up. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. ISSN 1369-183X

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Identification Number: 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1440494

Abstract

Why do individuals become dual citizens by acquiring kin-state citizenship? This article examines the case of Moldova as an extreme case of kin-state dual citizenship acquisition. In Moldova, a majority of residents can acquire (or reacquire) Romanian citizenship by virtue of being descended from former Romania citizens. First, the article moves beyond institutional and migration-centred perspectives on dual citizenship acquisition. Instead, the article explores kin-state citizenship as a practice of citizenship acquisition. The article uses 55 interviews with ordinary people, conducted in Moldova between 2012 and 2013, to examine why individuals choose (or not) to acquire kin-state citizenship. Second, the article argues for understanding explanations of acquisition of kin-state citizenship beyond strategic vs identity explanations. Rather, the article considers a third dimension of legitimacy. This legitimacy dimension demon- strates how acquisition of kin-state citizenship is constructed as natural, normal and, thus, legitimate. The article finds that the legitimate dimension is used even by those who do not identify co-ethnically or with the kin-state. Ties of legitimacy can, therefore, bind individuals to the kin-state via citizenship, irrespective of whether they identify with the kin-state.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjms20/current
Additional Information: © 2018 Taylor and Francis
Divisions: Methodology
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Date Deposited: 13 Mar 2018 10:56
Last Modified: 09 Mar 2024 23:45
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/87164

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