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Drawing on neo-institutional world polity theory, this article discusses the transformation of modern national citizenship and argues that a new global model of multicultural citizenship has emerged, which legitimates a de-coupling of state membership, individual rights, and national identity. Analysis of international legal discourse on human rights, particularly in the field of religion, shows that such individual rights have increasingly been complemented by state obligations to recognize a diversity of collective identities within the national public sphere. The globalization of human rights thus creates new repertoires of justification for contemporary identity politics and transforms the structure of modern nation-states.