Citizenship can be a fragile shield in a fractured world

For more than a century, citizenship has been one of the foundations of the international order. It determines which state is responsible for protecting an individual, which government guarantees their rights and which country must ultimately provide them with security. The Rohingya crisis is usually understood as demonstrating what happens when people are denied citizenship. But it points toward a potentially much larger problem. Increasingly, citizenship itself is no guarantee of protection.