The Development of Modern Legal Constructions of Citizenship and Statelessness in Light of Hannah Arendt’s Thesis on the Aporetic Character of the Enlightenment Concept of Human Rights
The article analyses the development of modern legal constructions of citizenship and statelessness in light of the key observations concerning the modern legal and political paradigm raised by Hannah Arendt. Studying the fallacies of the modern notion of citizenship, Arendt claims that the problem of statelessness is conditioned by a radical shift in understanding of politics, which took place during the enlightenment. Moreover, she proves that the fate of the stateless is symbolic for all modern people. Remedies to the challenges of modernity, which are based on the same modern political paradigm, are therefore considered by Arendt as aporetic. The study examines the adequacy of Arendt’s account of the European premodern concept of community and analyses the reception of her thoughts by later thinkers. It is concluded by brief analysis of the aptness of Arendt’s thoughts in reference to the key contemporary legal problems.
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