The concept of citizenship used in CITSEE is mainly legal-institutional in nature. It focuses on:

• nationality in the sense of the internally and externally recognised link between the citizen and the state;
• citizenship of the European Union;
• statuses of internal ‘quasi-citizenship’ for non-national residents who enjoy electoral rights and related political rights, and of external ‘quasi-citizenship’ for non-nationals residing outside the country who receive special benefits as former nationals or as ethnic kin groups related to the protector state;
• certain individual and collective rights protected by national and international human rights law, such as minority rights and non-discrimination rights which profoundly impact upon the exercise of full civic membership of a society and a polity, in particular discrimination on grounds of race or ethnic origin, gender and religious affiliation.

Alongside the studies of the seven successor states (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia), there will be cross cutting studies focusing on:

• the status of residents of the former Yugoslav Republics resident in other republics at the moment of independence;
• issues of dual and plural nationality, as well as diaspora and kin-state policies;
• the interface between citizenship, political rights and political participation especially where ethnic politics and constitutional nationalism are dominant;
• the status of minority groups, such as the Roma, as well as personal status issues around gender, sexuality and trans-national families;
• the impact of citizenship concepts on free movement and travel across borders, with a particular focus on issues of visa liberalisation.