> but let's also not pretend that the roughly equivalent concept is some kind of bloodless bureaucratic idea of 'nationality'. An apt choice of words, given t

> but let's also not pretend that the roughly equivalent concept is some kind of bloodless bureaucratic idea of 'nationality'. An apt choice of words, given that almost all European countries practice jus sanguinis - literally "right of the blood". In contrast to how citizenship works in most of North and South America, people who are born in European countries do not automatically get citizenship (nationality) of the country of birth. Instead, citizenship is inherited. This system became popular in many European countries in part because it provided a way to avoid automatically granting citizenship to immigrants from the now-former colonies, instead creating an extra barrier.