Book launch
Constructing Citizenship in Post-Soviet Contested States
- Date
- Thursday 5 November 2026
- Time
- Location
-
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague - Room
- 3.60
Join us for the launch of Dr Ramesh Ganohariti’s new book Constructing Citizenship in Post-Soviet Contested States: Evidence from Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria, published by Routledge. This book investigates the legal and socio-political implications of overlapping citizenship regimes under contested sovereignty. It focuses on the complex interplay among statehood, sovereignty, state recognition, citizenship regimes, and the politics of belonging.
The book launch will begin with a short presentation by the author, followed by a panel discussion with scholars who will reflect on the themes raised in the book. Afterwards, there will be room for Q&A.
Programme
15.30 – Welcome and introduction
15.35 – Presentation of Constructing Citizenship in Post-Soviet Contested States by Dr Ramesh Ganohariti
15.50 – Panel discussion
16.40 – Q&A with the audience
17.00 – Closing
About the book
Citizenship is a source of (legal) identity that provides access to resources, rights, and recognition. However, the disputed nature of contested states leads to their citizens being subject to multiple (conflicting) citizenship regimes. Drawing on legal analysis, interviews, and survey data, this book sheds light on the complex relationship between contested statehood, sovereignty, state recognition, citizenship regimes, and the politics of belonging. Using the lenses of multiplicity and human/state security, the book explores and explains how the phenomenon of citizenship has been constructed in three post-Soviet contested states: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria. The book finds that the contested nature of these states requires their citizens to navigate between the citizenship regimes of the contested, claimant, patron, and third states. Experiences of citizenship change depending on physical location, determinations by different states as to what legal status(es) an individual holds, and legislative and political changes. Meanwhile, at the state level, citizenship is used as a state- and nation-building tool to enhance ethnodemographic security by excluding undesired groups and including desired ones. Lastly, the book emphasises the normalisation discourse among (citizens of) contested states regarding their citizenship and security. This discourse evidences a broader pattern among contested states, highlighting that their state- and nation-building projects are not markedly different from those of recognised states.
Speakers
Ramesh Ganohariti
Ramesh Ganohariti is a lecturer at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. With a background in sociology and political science Ramesh’s focuses on the consequences of contested sovereignty and statehood on the everyday practices. His empirical focus is on contested states and territories in the former-Soviet space. He is the co-author of Sub-State Recognition: The Politics of Recognition from Below (Palgrave).
Bart Klem
Bart Klem is a Professor of Conflict, Politics and Sovereignty, Ghent University, Belgium. His research focuses on societies that strive to become sovereign and independent, but which are not recognized as such. Empirically, his work concerns the Tamil nationalist movement in Sri Lanka, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. He is the PI for the SovereignPerformance project funded by the ERC.
Gulshan Banas
Gulshan Banas is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam and Lecturer at Leiden University. Her research examines the role of identification systems and identity documents in shaping inclusion in, and exclusion from, citizenship rights in India. She focuses on citizens’ decisions to acquire these documents within the dual context of an expanding welfare state and restrictive citizenship policies. Combining large-scale surveys with original in-depth fieldwork, her work explores why millions of people remain incompletely documented.
Cesare Figari Barberis
Cesare Figari Barberis is a postdoctoral research at Leiden university, at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. His research focuses on the politics of emotions in the South Caucasus and European Union.