Citizenship Apartheid: How Birthright Builds a Global Caste

November 11, 2025

 

Citizenship Apartheid - Paper by Professor Dimitry Kochenov

 

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4680018

 

This podcast is based on Professor Kochenov's thought provoking paper.

 

AI description:

"In this episode we unpack a provocative argument: modern citizenship functions as a form of global apartheid, sorting people by birthright into zones of opportunity and exclusion. The sources argue that passports operate as a blood-based aristocracy, granting vast privileges to a minority while trapping the majority behind steep visa walls.

We trace the system’s colonial roots, explore compensatory citizenship and regional intercitizenships, and ask whether freedom of movement—not voting—is the fundamental right at stake. The episode challenges the rhetoric of universal rights by showing how nationality often determines life chances."