The governance of citizenship practices in the Post-Yugoslav states : the impact of Europeanisation

Abstract

This special issue examines the governance of citizenship and citizenship-related issues in the context of complex and sometimes contested processes of Europeanisation in and across the new states of South East Europe. The basic premise for the research was the centrality of the construction and governance of its citizenship regime for each new state that emerged during the course of the progressive breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) from 1991 onwards. Each new state established the laws and policies necessary to determine not only who were the initial citizenry of the state, but also how citizenship was acquired (and sometimes lost) at birth, through residence (or non-residence), via descent, and through other recognised connections such as ‘special qualities’. However, the study of citizenship necessarily goes beyond these narrow boundaries, looking at other types of ‘quasi’ statuses such as permanent residency as well as informal ideational and ideological aspects of citizenship policies. And while the starting point for such citizenship studies may be the status elements of membership, it quickly becomes evident that the enjoyment of citizenship can never fully be dissociated from its rights and identitarian elements.