Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world
A seminar with Lillian Frost, Research Fellow, Middle East Initiative and Ph.D. Candidate, George Washington University.
A seminar with Lillian Frost, Research Fellow, Middle East Initiative and Ph.D. Candidate, George Washington University.
Major global trends—including the rise of noncitizen resident populations, commercialization of nationality, and efforts to improve women’s rights—have raised new challenges to citizenship and what it means to be a citizen. These trends have been magnified in the Middle East, where the number of migrants over the past 25 years has increased exponentially--by about 150%, compared to a 60% increase in the world--including numerous protracted refugee situations, which have helped contribute to the region hosting roughly 45% of all refugees globally. The political changes evoked by the 2011 Arab Uprisings and their aftermath also have contributed to these citizenship challenges. This talk will provide an overview of some of the Arab world's major crises in citizenship today, including the persistence of discrimination toward women in nationality laws, the rights of noncitizen residents, the expansion of investment citizenship, and increases in cases of citizenship revocation.
