ABSTRACT
MEANING OF NATIONALITY To this point, we have talked almost exclusively about states and governments. Many questions of international law involve the necessity of delineating responsibility for specific actions or delineating the areas where a state or government can legitimately exercise its authority and rights. In the contemporary world, nationality, as the essential connection between an individual and a particular state in the contemporary world, stands at the center of many issues from questions of diplomatic protection to those involving human rights. Aircraft and ships have nationality, as do companies. The ability to travel rests upon documents based primarily on nationality. In the contemporary world, stateless individuals-those without an identifiable nationality-may often find themselves treated as if they have no rights, because the primary concern of each state is with those individuals defined as its citizens or nationals, its true members. Nationality is the bond that unites individuals with a given state that identifies them as members of that entity, enables them to claim its protection, and also subjects them to the performance of such duties as their state may impose on them. Constitutions and laws may reserve to nationals specific rights and privileges, such as owning property or entering into particular professions within the state. For example, in the United States, radio and television licenses are reserved for American individuals or corporations; land and mineral rights possessed by the federal government may be leased only to citizens or domestic corporations; and foreign airlines may carry passengers from point to point within the United States only under explicit regulations worked out with foreign governments, often on the basis of reciprocity.
