Transnational migration has been a constant element of human existence. Admission and integration of migrants has, in time, become an increasingly important element of decision-making policies in many nations. Classifications of voluntary and involuntary migrants according to their reasons for migrating and the socio-economic and political reasons for the acceptance of such individuals by the receiving countries have been the object of numerous national and international pieces of legislation. This has served to underscore the importance of belonging for all parties involved: both migrants (more or less welcome in their adoptive countries) and states alike. In a formal sense, the ultimate signal of unlimited acceptance remains the granting of citizenship by his/her new country to the “adoptee-resident.” Only citizens normally enjoy an unconditional right to live and reside without restrictions in a given country. Traditionally, this ultimate form of acceptance was (mutually) exclusive, which, for a long time, made it practically impossible for a person to be a citizen of more than one state. Gradual globalization and an unprecedented development of the very concept of citizenship, from a horizontal, national perspective to an emerging vertical, supra-national level (consider, for example, the concept of EU-citizenship and the special case of the Nordic states), required, at some point, a redefinition and re-evaluation of the concept of citizenship, in both formal legal and more informal terms. This paper examines this redefinition and re-evaluation within the context of Sweden. (Author’s description)
