The Transition found the newly formed Third Hellenic Republic burdened with unbearable inherited weights and distortions in many areas. Among the most crucial was that of citizenship. The status of the citizen in our country has been a subject of dispute and state repression for many decades. The consequences of the Civil War, especially the "emergency regime," distorted the institution and transformed it from a pillar of guarantees into an authoritarian node of control over dissenters.
The young democracy slowly began to restore institutional order and, above all, to include more and more excluded population groups in the political body: first the "deprived due to anti-national activities," then the marginalized Roma, followed by the political refugees of the Civil War, and then the compatriots from the "eastern" countries.
Globalization brought about the opening of the country to incoming migration flows and posed a dilemma for society, political forces, and the state regarding the integration of individuals who were not ethnically Greek into the political body. Once again, with slow steps and reversals, we started to discuss and institutionalize.
Who is "entitled" to be a Greek citizen? Are you born a Greek or do you become one?
All this eventful journey of Greek citizenship from the Transition until today is recorded and commented on in the present study, seeking to shed light on it and contribute to the already open discussion concerning the future and the quality of our Democracy.