>I think (it's a complete guess) that *most* of the world's societies
have
>barriers to non native-born individuals holding high offices.
I think you're almost certainly wrong. It's certainly not the case in Britain. There are no bars to people born as foreign nationals becoming prime minister. Nor are there bars to foreign nationals being made king or queen either. In fact it's a relatively frequent occurance.
The national borders of europe have fluctuated considerably over the last few thousand years, and even nin the last few hundred. Just look at what's happened in europe since the founding of the U.S.A. There are many europeans in the last century who changed nationality 3 or 4 times in their lifetime without even moving.
Lets suppose that the political situation calls for the creation of a new country, formed from the territories of several previous countries, or from part of the territory of a larger country for various reasons (a common situation in europe even now). The new country has not existed previously. If the constitution of the new country requires that the president must have been born a national then surely that means it will have to wait a whole generation before it's even able to hold elections. Such a requirement is a logical absurdity.
Simon Hibbs
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