Abstract

Modern Law frames citizenship mainly in terms of nationality, allegedly the expression of the identity of the national community. Here I suggest a criticism of this basic conception of belonging: First, because of reasons dependants on the ambiguity of the very idea of nations; Second, because of the artificial character of the models of nationality prevailingly elaborated by legal science; Third, because the model of nationality does less than bargained for. It basically creates more problems than it is said to resolve. In particular, I focus on statelessness and the debate on citizenship as «the right to have rights» and explain why this idea is fundamentally flawed.