Non-territorial citizenship is based mainly on the individual’s national/ethnic self-identification. ’Ethnizenship’ offered by the kin-state is often in tension with the ‘empty’ citizenship of the state of residence, not only at the level of the individual but also a source of conflict among the states. Our exploratory paper proposes to assess qualitatively what is the meaning of gaining ‘ethnizenship’ for minority members and how do they reconcile the seemingly conflicting loyalties towards host- and kin-states. We use focus group discussions to examine how members of ethnic Hungarian communities living in neighbouring countries around Hungary (re)construct their identities through their citizenship(s) and how does this affect relations to their host state and the kin-state. As such, we can explore and compare not only how citizenship(s) are integrated into multi-layered minority identity structures but we can also understand how citizenship policies influence interethnic relations both within and among states of the region.
