Statelessness and Citizenship Revocation in Europe

Statelessness often results from discriminatory policies or legal gaps, while citizenship revocation is typically used as a counterterrorism measure. Both processes strip individuals – particularly from minoritized groups – of legal status and access to essential social services, leaving them vulnerable to exclusion, exploitation, and human rights abuses.With contributions from scholars in political science, international law, and sociology, this unique collection presents case studies of policies that reinforce statelessness; it connects legal doctrines with real-world impacts and critically balances the tensions between security imperatives and human dignity. Statelessness and Citizenship Revocation in Europe calls for policy changes that position citizenship as an essential human right. Offering both rigorous multidisciplinary academic analysis and practical recommendations to address statelessness in contemporary Europe, this book is an essential resource for scholars, policymakers, and advocates.

Salvador Santino Regilme is Associate Professor of International Relations at Leiden University, where he also serves as Program Chair of International Relations. He is the author of United States and Chinese Foreign Assistance and Diplomacy (2026) and Aid Imperium: United States Foreign Policy and Human Rights in Post-Cold War Southeast Asia (2021) and editor of Children Rights in Crisis (2024) and The United States and China in the Era of Global Transformations (2023). He is also co-editor of Human Rights at Risk (2022) and American Hegemony and the Rise of Emerging Powers (2017).