In this Article, we focus on nationality as a form of citizenship in modern nation-state formation. Two major models of approaching citizenship—civil/territorial and ethnic/genealogical—linked to two different processes of nation-state formation—jus soli and jus sanguinis—are examined. We draw from the anthropological ‘modernist’ approach to nationalism and international law, focusing on immigrants as well as other categories of aliens (asylum-seekers, ex-colonials and gastarbeiter) that experience exclusion/inclusion in nation-states. We hold that while “multiculturalism” has become the political expression of a more pluralistic approach to nationhood, nation-state politics nevertheless have formed various approaches to nationalism which have affected immigration policy in various ways. For example, a handful of frontier states use buffer zones for irregular migration. This model of immigration policy simply creates large-scale and long-term detention centers, which by extension cannot expedite asylum applications. If more, let alone all, wealthy states served as frontier states, the need for inhumane buffer zones would be eliminated and, as the Greek integration paradigm exemplifies, some migrants would stand a good chance of being integrated.
Ilias Bantekas & Domna Michail, Integration and Citizenship of Irregular Migrants in Frontier States: A Socio-Legal Approach to A Human Rights Problem, 26 J. Gender, Race & Just. 1 (2023).