ABSTRACT
This chapter takes up the question of whether multiple national loyalties necessarily result in conflicting national loyalties. It begins with the question of conflict between nations, which has historically been the cause of much of the conflict over multiple nationalities and loyalties, and explains that dual citizenship per se is unlikely to lead to war. The chapter argues that this is at best a very shallow consideration of the issues at stake given a focus on conflict. It presents some evidence from studies of the acquisition of national identity and loyalty in children, which suggests that early attachments are not so easily discarded or modified. It focuses on feature of the political international and American environment that has a profound impact on the extent to which the peoples might worry about multiple nationalities and loyalties. Some of the most direct manifestations of issues that can arise with multiple loyalties are seen in the case of Mexican Americans.
