단일국적주의는 국제법의 원칙인가

Changing Perceptions of Multiple Nationality in Modern International Law

In 1895, the Institute of International Law declared an international principle against multiple allegiances. Since then, international community in the time of the League of Nations had considered double nationality as an abhorrence of the natural order, and established the single nationality principle to abolish the evil custom. Exploring related international treaties regulating double or multiple nationality in a chronicle order, however, this article points out that international consensus towards multiple nationality, as well as the traditional perceptions thereof, has been dramatically changed over the last few decades. While traditional international instruments considered it undesirable and aberrant, the Second Protocol of the Strasbourg Convention and the European Convention on Nationality adopt value-neutral stance; these modern treaties do not aim to abolish or reduce plural nationality as an end, but to manage or resolve certain legal issues derived from such inevitable feature of globalization. Considering that more and more states are now accepting, or at least tolerating, multiple nationality in their legal system as a natural phenomenon, this article argues that the single nationality principle, the relic of the bygone age, is no longer a principle embedded within contemporary international law; in the status quo, it remains as one of domestic jurisprudence of nationality law subject to a state’s own choice. Finally, considering the emergence of human right in the field of nationality, this article points out that the traditional state-centered jurisprudence coercing individuals into having single nationality would be in conflict with the human right to acquire, retain, or choose his or her nationality.