Pre-print version Efforts to develop international legal norms on matters of nationality have always been vexed by an inherent contradiction. On the one hand, the status of nationality is by its very nature an international one that depends on recognition by other states. 1 On the other hand, the Grundnorm of international law on nationality is national self-determination, spelled out in Art. 1 of the 1930 Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Law: "It is for each State to determine under its own law who are its nationals". To grasp fully the tension between these two principles, imagine for a moment that they would apply not only to states' populations, but also to their territory. Would it be possible to uphold simultaneously a principle of mutual recognition of international borders and a principle that it is for each state to determine its territorial borders under its own law? 1 Where international recognition is lacking, as it is in disputed "liminal territories" (Krasniqi 2018), such as Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, North Cyprus and Crimea, inhabitants are subjects of governments and may even enjoy citizenship rights of political participation, but their de facto citizenship no longer matches their legal nationality. 2 Arendt 1967, p. 293. 3 See the contribution by Owen in this special issue. 4 See the contributions by van Waas and Jaghai in this special issue.