Politics of citizenship in post-communist Romania: Legal traditions, restitution of nationality and multiple memberships

A member of the European Union since January 2007, Romania has brought a rich historical experience into the union that goes all the way back to long-lasting Byzantine and Ottoman imperial legacies and to the more recent successive waves of Western- and Soviet-style modernisation. Given Romania’s multiple historical legacies, which combine pan-European trends with Central and Southeast European regional features, the history of Romanian citizenship legislation challenges the clear-cut and neatly defined analytical dichotomies, such as ‘old’ versus ʼnew’ states and ‘civic’ versus ‘ethnic’ or ‘inclusive’ vs. ‘exclusive’ citizenship doctrines, which are erroneously regarded as corresponding to ‘Western’ vs. ‘Eastern’ historical experiences (for a critique of such views, see Iordachi 2006).