Dual citizenship legislation as based on "political love"

What is it about?

This study analyses the language that lawmakers used during the debate that resulted in the passage of the Philippine citizenship retention and reacquisition law in 2003. Because of the constitutional prohibition against dual allegiance, legislators constructed narratives that suggested that citizens who had emigrated and naturalised in other countries remained forever politically in love with their country of birth. The passage of the law affirmed a traditional notion of citizenship, while tolerating dual, nonexclusive citizenship.

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Why is it important?

States may instrumentalize citizenship, but this paper shows that discursively political emotions are mobilized as a legitimation device