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Undocumented Nationals

Between Statelessness and Citizenship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2019

Wendy Hunter
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin

Summary

Understood simply, people are either citizens of a country or stateless. Yet reality belies this dichotomy. Between absolute statelessness and full citizenship exist millions of people who are nationals of a country in principle but lack the identity documents to prove it, beginning with a birth certificate. Languishing in a gray zone, undocumented nationals have difficulty accessing the full services and rights that their documented counterparts enjoy. Drawing on a range of country examples, Undocumented Nationals: Between Statelessness and Citizenship calls attention to and analyzes the plight of people who cannot exercise full citizenship owing to evidentiary deficiencies. The existing literature has not adequately conceptualized and examined this in-between status, which results sometimes from state neglect and other times from intentional state discrimination. By highlighting its causes and consequences, and exploring ways to address the problem, this Cambridge Element addresses an important gap in the literature.
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Undocumented Nationals
  • Wendy Hunter, University of Texas, Austin
  • Online ISBN: 9781108568913
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Undocumented Nationals
  • Wendy Hunter, University of Texas, Austin
  • Online ISBN: 9781108568913
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Undocumented Nationals
  • Wendy Hunter, University of Texas, Austin
  • Online ISBN: 9781108568913
Available formats
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