ABSTRACT
Although citizenship is a fundamental issue in postcolonial states, it has been hardly discussed within the Maghreb countries 1 since independence and until recently. Citizenship regulations were among the first legal texts to be adopted after independence. 2 Yet, they were subject to very few changes in the decades afterwards. This legislative stability has to be seen together with the strength of political regimes and elites in the region. It reflects not only a lack of democracy but also weakness in national questioning and difficulties in state-building.
