Available via license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Content may be subject to copyright.
Book review of Harpaz,
Yossi 2019.
Citizenship
2.0: Dual Nationality
as a Global Asset
.
Princeton and Oxford:
Princeton University
Press. 203 pp
MARIANNA BETTI
ABSTRACT
This is a review of Yossi Harpaz’s recently published book on comparative
research in four different countries about dynamics of acquisition of dual
citizenship.
BOOK REVIEW
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Marianna Betti
Assistant Professor,
Department of Social
Anthropology, University of
Bergen, Norway
Marianna.betti@uib.no
TO CITE THIS ARTICLE:
Betti, M. 2022. Book
review of Harpaz, Yossi
2019.
Citizenship 2.0: Dual
Nationality as a Global
Asset
. Princeton and Oxford:
Princeton University Press.
203 pp. Nordic Journal of
Migration Research, 12(3),
pp. 368–371. DOI: https://
doi.org/10.33134/njmr.528
369Betti
Nordic Journal of
Migration Research
DOI: 10.33134/njmr.528
Yossi Harpaz’s newest book Citizenship 2.0: Dual Nationality as a Global Asset takes the
reader to a new level of analysis of latest dynamics of acquisition of dual citizenship.
Through an attentive comparative analysis of statistical data collected from relatively
recent demographic datasets, and through interviews with selected dual citizenship
holders, Harpaz depicts a convincing argument for the reasons behind requesting
(and obtaining) another ‘compensatory citizenship’ (p. 18). He has researched three
specific groups: middle-class Mexicans mostly residing near the US-Mexico border,
ethnic Hungarians residing in Bosnia and Israelis with ancestry connection to western
European countries. The choice of these groups is explained in terms of picking non-
immigrants outside the West, meaning citizens of ‘second’ tier countries ‘strategically’
applying to citizenship to ‘first’ tier countries, and the comparison works in fact very well.
The main argument of the book focuses on what drives these individuals to seek a
first-tier country citizenship as a ‘strategy’ for global upward mobility. The reasons,
methods and the outcomes of seeking and obtaining dual citizenship may differ, but
the intrinsic unequal value of citizenship around the world shape the attitudes of
Mexicans, Serbians and Israelis alike. Harpaz, through figures and sources collected
from global demographic statistics, illustrates in Chapter 2 the global hierarchy of
citizenship that allows travelling, studying, working abroad and broadening one’s own
and one’s family horizons and possibilities, taken as ‘the point of departure and use
[…] to explain variation in the way dual citizenship is understood and used’ (p. 15). In a
way, in order to sustain his argument of ‘strategic’ application to dual citizenship, the
author seeks to move beyond, for instance, the ‘sentimental approach’ (pp. 17–19),
which has been used by prominent scholars such as Benedict Anderson (1998), and
rather take a functional approach instead. Having established that a ‘stratified global
order’ does exist, this functional approach makes sense, and the selected cases in the
book seem to strongly support it. Chapter 2 also serves to lay the political, historical
and legislative contexts to better explain recent dual citizenship trends. Each following
chapter again provides an introduction, which is valuable for greater understanding of
the different cases and analyses.
The first case, in Chapter 3, is from the Serbian region of Vojvodina where since
2011 there has been a rising demand for acquisition of Hungarian citizenship and
consequential emigration to the EU. Coupled with an often left unchecked proof
of Hungarian ancestry, the granting of Hungarian citizenship requires only a basic
knowledge of the Hungarian language. In fact, Harpaz describes that the Hungarian
State is eager to recruit new citizens (p. 43) especially among the Hungarian minorities
residing in areas ceded after World War II. Given the practice of granting of citizenship
on the basis of ethnicity is often criticized in Europe with respect to recent political
conflicts, Hungary makes sure not to evidently differentiate because of ethnicity,
therefore, the language requirement indirectly fulfills this ethnolinguistic distinction.
This makes it easier for other groups, not only the ethnic Hungarian minorities but
also ethnic Serbs, for example, may be able to ‘fabricate’ a connection to Hungary
by learning the language, and thereafter obtain Hungarian citizenship. Through
Hungarian citizenship, Serbs rejoin ‘the ranks of “normal” Europeans’ (p. 66) where
jobs are better paid, higher education standards higher and life in general is perceived
as better and there is a greater sense of ‘belonging’ instead of humiliation by being
left out during the post-communist transition (pp. 56–59).
The second case, in Chapter 4, relates to middle-class Mexicans residing near the
US-Mexican border, who facilitate acquisition of US citizenship through cross-border
births to guarantee citizenship to their children on the basis of jus soli. Differently
370Betti
Nordic Journal of
Migration Research
DOI: 10.33134/njmr.528
from the Hungarian citizenship for Serbians, the US citizenship for these Mexicans is
perceived more as a gift from parents to children than as an asset. This is an expensive
strategy that only Mexican elites can afford, but it is seen as a future investment not
only for their children who will be able to get the opportunity to study and work in
the US, but also for the parents themselves who could relocate there in case the
security situation in Mexico deteriorated in the future (p. 88). This provides a very
interesting new perspective, Harpaz details how these individuals identify themselves:
consumers and not migrants. ‘Giving birth in the US is yet another form of cross-
border consumption’ (p. 82). In fact, they do contribute to the American and Mexican
economies: by being frequent tourists in the US and by enriching the ‘cultural capital’
of the future of Mexican elite working class.
The last case is that of Israel described in Chapter 5. Here, Harpaz shows that no
nostalgia nor real necessity is motivating thousands of Ashkenazim – Israelis of
European origins – apply citizenship in Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania every
year. Even though historically, the statistical trends might show a response to security
events in Israel and to the expansion of the EU, these individuals seem to have little or
no intention to move into these countries, some of which still feel inimical and foreign.
Citizenship is obtained on the basis of ancestry; however, there is no material, cultural,
emotional or linguistic connection to these countries. This second citizenship is often
referred to as ‘citizenship of Europe’, and it is viewed as an ‘item of prestige’ and as
an ‘insurance policy’ would have future value should the security situation in Israel
deteriorate (p. 98).
Through the comparison of these three different cases, Harpaz is right in claiming that
studies of second citizenship have overlooked different dynamics that preclude the
decision and strategy to obtain second citizenship, and that each case necessitates
specific attention. One of the greatest values of this work is the detailed analysis of
alternate statistical datasets, which the author has skillfully collected and evaluated
against sociocultural backgrounds filling existing and unexplained lacunae (p. 27). In
this laborious enterprise, Harpaz shows how important statistics are and that it can
be a source of inspiration into new research inquiries. In fact, his cases are fascinating,
and I am sure there are numerous other cases of individuals and groups applying for
second citizenship that would warrant further investigation. I also suspect that such
cases could inspire a series of interdisciplinary work into the complex dynamics of
globalisation. It is interesting how, in this very moment, I am applying for a second
citizenship in Norway, as an addition to my Italian one. Dual citizenship is becoming a
norm, not an exception, and this phenomenon should not be left unguarded.
Even though it has been enriching and informative, the book is not flawless. As an
anthropologist, I have found the work of Harpaz lacking a more in-depth analysis of
the cultural capital and social context that defines the strategies of his respondents.
Methodologically, the short interviews represented in the selected vignettes for each
case are ‘thin’ cases and do not address cultural and symbolic values that having or
acquiring dual citizenship can entail for these individuals, in addition to the strong
most defining functional reason. Of course, the practicalities of having a global asset
represented by the second first-tier country passport cannot be denied, but I could
not stop asking myself: Is it only this? The book is an easy read as Harpaz writes with a
fluent and pedagogical style, and his theoretical background is simple and fits well the
argument. I can warmly recommend this book to anyone interested in questions related
to dual citizenship and the underlying motivations for individuals seeking additional or
alternate nationality and the associated rights and opportunity this facilitates.
371Betti
Nordic Journal of
Migration Research
DOI: 10.33134/njmr.528
TO CITE THIS ARTICLE:
Betti, M. 2022. Book
review of Harpaz, Yossi
2019.
Citizenship 2.0:
Dual Nationality as a
Global Asset
. Princeton
and Oxford: Princeton
University Press. 203
pp. Nordic Journal of
Migration Research, 12(3),
pp. 368–371. DOI: https://doi.
org/10.33134/njmr.528
Submitted: 15 November 2021
Accepted: 17 November 2021
Published: 27 Spetember
2022
COPYRIGHT:
© 2022 The Author(s). This
is an open-access article
distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons
NonCommercial-
NoDerivatives Attribution
4.0 International
License (CC-BY-NC-ND
4.0), which permits
unrestricted distribution,
and reproduction in any
medium, provided the
original author and source
are credited, the material
is not used for commercial
purposes and is not altered
in any way. See https://
creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Nordic Journal of Migration
Research is a peer-reviewed
open access journal
published by Helsinki
University Press.
COMPETING INTERESTS
The author has no competing interests to declare.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION
Marianna Betti orcid.org/0000-0002-9072-2220
Assistant Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen, Norway
REFERENCE
Anderson, B. 1998. The spectre of comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the
world. London: Verso.