Statelessness: A Modern History

The story of how a much-contested legal category—statelessness—transformed the international legal order and redefined the relationship between states and their citizens is explored in Mira Siegelberg's innovative history. Statelessness produced novel visions of cosmopolitan political and legal organization and challenged efforts to limit national membership, but the emergence of mass statelessness ultimately gave rise to the rights regime created after World War II, which empowered the territorial state as the fundamental source of protection and rights.

Format: Hardback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 06 October 2020
Publisher: Harvard University Press

The story of how a much-contested legal category—statelessness—transformed the international legal order and redefined the relationship between states and their citizens is a fascinating and complex one. Two world wars left millions stranded in Europe, with the collapse of empires and the rise of independent states in the twentieth century producing an unprecedented number of people without national belonging and with nowhere to go. Mira Siegelberg's innovative history weaves together ideas about law and politics, rights and citizenship, with the intimate plight of stateless persons to explore how and why the problem of statelessness compelled a new understanding of the international order in the twentieth century and beyond.

In the years following the First World War, the legal category of statelessness generated novel visions of cosmopolitan political and legal organization and challenged efforts to limit the boundaries of national membership and international authority. Yet, as Siegelberg shows, the emergence of mass statelessness ultimately gave rise to the rights regime created after World War II, which empowered the territorial state as the fundamental source of protection and rights, against alternative political configurations.

Today, we live with the results: more than twelve million people are stateless, and millions more belong to categories of recent invention, including refugees and asylum seekers. By uncovering the ideological origins of the international agreements that define categories of citizenship and non-citizenship, Statelessness better equips us to confront current dilemmas of political organization and authority at the global level.

The story of statelessness is a reminder of the power of law and politics to shape the world around us. It highlights the importance of recognizing and addressing the rights of all individuals, regardless of their national belonging, and the need to create a more inclusive and equitable international order. As we continue to grapple with the challenges of global migration and displacement, the insights provided by Statelessness offer a valuable roadmap for building a more just and peaceful world.

Weight: 626g
Dimension: 165 x 242 x 34 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674976313