IECL Lunchtime Seminar with Sedayet Mayaci – Comparing Nationality Laws: The What, the Why, and the How
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The IECL Lunchtime Seminar Series offers our Academic Visitors an opportunity to share their research, exchange ideas, and connect with colleagues on both substantive and methodological aspects of their work.
Each seminar usually lasts 30–45 minutes, with 20–30 minutes for the presentation followed by 10–15 minutes for Q&A. A light sandwich lunch will be provided.
Sedayet Mayaci
Comparing Nationality Laws: The What, the Why, and the How
Abstract: As Esin Örücü writes in her aptly entitled book The Enigma of Comparative Law, comparative law is a complex and sometimes enigmatic endeavour. Yet it is precisely this complexity that makes it so valuable: to compare is to question one’s own categories and assumptions. Comparative law offers a critical understanding of legal systems by providing another perspective from our own legal traditions. The comparison of nationality laws in France and the United Kingdom fully reflects this dynamic.
Far from being a simple legal status, nationality reveals particular conceptions of belonging, identity, and the relationship between individuals and the State. By comparing the French and British systems, this research explores how history, constitutional traditions, colonial legacies, and contemporary political debates have shaped — and continue to shape — nationality law today. It also examines current issues such as migration, integration policies, populism, and evolving understandings of nationality and national identity.
Rather than attempting to determine which system is “better”, the aim is to use comparison as a way of questioning legal categories that often appear self-evident, and to better understand how nationality laws reflect broader political and societal choices.
Through three central questions — What is nationality law? Why compare the French and British nationality systems? And which methods should be used to compare nationality laws? — this presentation seeks to reflect on some of the main theoretical and methodological challenges raised by comparative nationality law.
