HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Since
1914, changing political and economic conditions have
forced millions of people to leave their ancestral
territories and to flee to other sovereign
nations such
as the United States, Australia, England, France etc.
Many of those immigrants have maintained dual
citizenship
for reasons of identity, privacy, taxation, travel,
and long term security.
| "Cyberspace
radically undermines the relationship between
legally significant (online) phenomena and
physical location. The rise of the global
computer network is destroying the link between
geographical location and: (1) the power of local
governments to assert control over online
behavior; (2) the effects of online behavior on
individuals or things; (3) the legitimacy of the
efforts of a local sovereign to enforce rules
applicable to global phenomena; and (4) the
ability of physical location to give notice of
which sets of rules apply." Stanford
Law Review - May 1996
|
More
recently, the Internet has emphasized the fact that cultural
identities, communities, cultures and economic
activities are no longer territory-based. In
1997, there were more than 50 million net-citizens
and this number will likely reach 300 million by
1999. It is therefore clear that citizenship,
ethnicity, political - religious beliefs and place of
residence are no longer connected. In the
internet-linked community, race, origin and country
of residence are oftentimes irrelevant. It is also a
fact of international law (e.g. Sovereign Order of
Knights of Malta, Vatican City) that sovereignty is
not necessary linked to territorial possessions
(click
here to read a legal brief of the Non-Territorial
Sovereignty of the Republic of Lomar).
Another
issue is the concern of citizens of traditional
jurisdictions, mostly in the United States and
Western Europe regarding the growing fiscal
pressure of government, restrictions
on travel, privacy and free speech,
strict identity and tax controls etc. At the
same time, these jurisdictions are no longer
defenders of just causes such as personal
freedom and human rights. The unresolved
case of Tibet (and
many others) is revealing. Because of fear and
economic interest, most countries of first
citizenship no longer stand up to enemies of freedom
such as the People Republic of China (among many).
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