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Closure (topology)

In topology, the closure of a subset $S$ of points in a topological space consists of all points in $S$ together with all limit points of $S$. The closure of $S$ may equivalently be defined as the union of $S$ and its boundary, and also as the intersection of all closed sets containing $S$. Intuitively, the closure can be thought of as all the points that are either in $S$ or "very near" $S$. A point which is in the closure of $S$ is a point of closure of $S$. The notion of closure is in many ways dual to the notion of interior.

Point of closure
For $$S$$ as a subset of a Euclidean space, $$x$$ is a point of closure of $$S$$ if every open ball centered at $$x$$ contains a point of $$S$$ (this point can be $$x$$ itself).

This definition generalizes to any subset $$S$$ of a metric space $$X.$$ Fully expressed, for $$X$$ as a metric space with metric $$d,$$ $$x$$ is a point of closure of $$S$$ if for every $$r > 0$$ there exists some $$s \in S$$ such that the distance $$d(x, s) < r$$ ($$x = s$$ is allowed). Another way to express this is to say that $$x$$ is a point of closure of $$S$$ if the distance $$d(x, S) := \inf_{s \in S} d(x, s) = 0$$ where $$\inf$$ is the infimum.

This definition generalizes to topological spaces by replacing "open ball" or "ball" with "neighbourhood". Let $$S$$ be a subset of a topological space $$X.$$ Then $$x$$ is a or  of $$S$$ if every neighbourhood of $$x$$ contains a point of $$S$$ (again, $$x = s$$ for $$s \in S$$ is allowed). Note that this definition does not depend upon whether neighbourhoods are required to be open.

Limit point
The definition of a point of closure of a set is closely related to the definition of a limit point of a set. The difference between the two definitions is subtle but important – namely, in the definition of a limit point $$x$$ of a set $$S$$, every neighbourhood of $$x$$ must contain a point of $$S$$, i.e., each neighbourhood of $$x$$ obviously has $$x$$ but it also must have a point of $$S$$ that is not equal to $$x$$ in order for $$x$$ to be a limit point of $$S$$. A limit point of $$S$$ has more strict condition than a point of closure of $$S$$ in the definitions. The set of all limit points of a set $$S$$ is called the. A limit point of a set is also called cluster point or accumulation point of the set.

Thus, every limit point is a point of closure, but not every point of closure is a limit point. A point of closure which is not a limit point is an isolated point. In other words, a point $$x$$ is an isolated point of $$S$$ if it is an element of $$S$$ and there is a neighbourhood of $$x$$ which contains no other points of $$S$$ than $$x$$ itself.

For a given set $$S$$ and point $$x,$$ $$x$$ is a point of closure of $$S$$ if and only if $$x$$ is an element of $$S$$ or $$x$$ is a limit point of $$S$$ (or both).

Closure of a set
The of a subset $$S$$ of a topological space $$(X, \tau),$$ denoted by $$\operatorname{cl}_{(X, \tau)} S$$ or possibly by $$\operatorname{cl}_X S$$ (if $$\tau$$ is understood), where if both $$X$$ and $$\tau$$ are clear from context then it may also be denoted by $$\operatorname{cl} S,$$ $$\overline{S},$$ or $$S {}^{-}$$ (Moreover, $$\operatorname{cl}$$ is sometimes capitalized to $$\operatorname{Cl}$$.) can be defined using any of the following equivalent definitions:  $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is the set of all points of closure of $$S.$$ $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is the set $$S$$ together with all of its limit points. (Each point of $$S$$ is a point of closure of $$S$$, and each limit point of $$S$$ is also a point of closure of $$S$$.)  $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is the intersection of all closed sets containing $$S.$$ $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is the smallest closed set containing $$S.$$ $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is the union of $$S$$ and its boundary $$\partial(S).$$ $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is the set of all $$x \in X$$ for which there exists a net (valued) in $$S$$ that converges to $$x$$ in $$(X, \tau).$$

The closure of a set has the following properties.

 * $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is a closed superset of $$S$$.
 * The set $$S$$ is closed if and only if $$S = \operatorname{cl} S$$.
 * If $$S \subseteq T$$ then $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is a subset of $$\operatorname{cl} T.$$
 * If $$A$$ is a closed set, then $$A$$ contains $$S$$ if and only if $$A$$ contains $$\operatorname{cl} S.$$

Sometimes the second or third property above is taken as the of the topological closure, which still make sense when applied to other types of closures (see below).

In a first-countable space (such as a metric space), $$\operatorname{cl} S$$ is the set of all limits of all convergent sequences of points in $$S.$$ For a general topological space, this statement remains true if one replaces "sequence" by "net" or "filter" (as described in the article on filters in topology).

Note that these properties are also satisfied if "closure", "superset", "intersection", "contains/containing", "smallest" and "closed" are replaced by "interior", "subset", "union", "contained in", "largest", and "open". For more on this matter, see closure operator below.

Examples
Consider a sphere in a 3 dimensional space. Implicitly there are two regions of interest created by this sphere; the sphere itself and its interior (which is called an open 3-ball). It is useful to distinguish between the interior and the surface of the sphere, so we distinguish between the open 3-ball (the interior of the sphere), and the closed 3-ball – the closure of the open 3-ball that is the open 3-ball plus the surface (the surface as the sphere itself).

In topological space:
 * In any space, $$\varnothing = \operatorname{cl} \varnothing$$. In other words, the closure of the empty set $$\varnothing$$ is $$\varnothing$$ itself.
 * In any space $$X,$$ $$X = \operatorname{cl} X.$$

Giving $$\mathbb{R}$$ and $$\mathbb{C}$$ the standard (metric) topology:
 * If $$X$$ is the Euclidean space $$\mathbb{R}$$ of real numbers, then $$\operatorname{cl}_X ((0, 1)) = [0, 1]$$. In other words., the closure of the set $$(0,1)$$ as a subset of $$X$$ is $$[0,1]$$.
 * If $$X$$ is the Euclidean space $$\mathbb{R}$$, then the closure of the set $$\mathbb{Q}$$ of rational numbers is the whole space $$\mathbb{R}.$$ We say that $$\mathbb{Q}$$ is dense in $$\mathbb{R}.$$
 * If $$X$$ is the complex plane $$\mathbb{C} = \mathbb{R}^2,$$ then $$\operatorname{cl}_X \left( \{ z \in \mathbb{C} : | z | > 1 \} \right) = \{ z \in \mathbb{C} : | z | \geq 1 \}.$$
 * If $$S$$ is a finite subset of a Euclidean space $$X,$$ then $$\operatorname{cl}_X S = S.$$ (For a general topological space, this property is equivalent to the T1 axiom.)

On the set of real numbers one can put other topologies rather than the standard one.
 * If $$X = \mathbb{R}$$ is endowed with the lower limit topology, then $$\operatorname{cl}_X ((0, 1)) = [0, 1).$$
 * If one considers on $$X = \mathbb{R}$$ the discrete topology in which every set is closed (open), then $$\operatorname{cl}_X ((0, 1)) = (0, 1).$$
 * If one considers on $$X = \mathbb{R}$$ the trivial topology in which the only closed (open) sets are the empty set and $$\mathbb{R}$$ itself, then $$\operatorname{cl}_X ((0, 1)) = \mathbb{R}.$$

These examples show that the closure of a set depends upon the topology of the underlying space. The last two examples are special cases of the following.

 * In any discrete space, since every set is closed (and also open), every set is equal to its closure.
 * In any indiscrete space $$X,$$ since the only closed sets are the empty set and $$X$$ itself, we have that the closure of the empty set is the empty set, and for every non-empty subset $$A$$ of $$X,$$ $$\operatorname{cl}_X A = X.$$ In other words, every non-empty subset of an indiscrete space is dense.

The closure of a set also depends upon in which space we are taking the closure. For example, if $$X$$ is the set of rational numbers, with the usual relative topology induced by the Euclidean space $$\mathbb{R},$$ and if $$S = \{ q \in \mathbb{Q} : q^2 > 2, q > 0 \},$$ then $$S$$ is both closed and open in $$\mathbb{Q}$$ because neither $$S$$ nor its complement can contain $$\sqrt2$$, which would be the lower bound of $$S$$, but cannot be in $$S$$ because $$\sqrt2$$ is irrational. So, $$S$$ has no well defined closure due to boundary elements not being in $$\mathbb{Q}$$. However, if we instead define $$X$$ to be the set of real numbers and define the interval in the same way then the closure of that interval is well defined and would be the set of all greater than  $$\sqrt2$$.

Closure operator
A on a set $$X$$ is a mapping of the power set of $$X,$$ $$\mathcal{P}(X)$$, into itself which satisfies the Kuratowski closure axioms. Given a topological space $$(X, \tau)$$, the topological closure induces a function $$\operatorname{cl}_X : \wp(X) \to \wp(X)$$ that is defined by sending a subset $$S \subseteq X$$ to $$\operatorname{cl}_X S,$$ where the notation $$\overline{S}$$ or $$S^{-}$$ may be used instead. Conversely, if $$\mathbb{c}$$ is a closure operator on a set $$X,$$ then a topological space is obtained by defining the closed sets as being exactly those subsets $$S \subseteq X$$ that satisfy $$\mathbb{c}(S) = S$$ (so complements in $$X$$ of these subsets form the open sets of the topology).

The closure operator $$\operatorname{cl}_X$$ is dual to the interior operator, which is denoted by $$\operatorname{int}_X,$$ in the sense that

 * $$\operatorname{cl}_X S = X \setminus \operatorname{int}_X (X \setminus S),$$

and also

 * $$\operatorname{int}_X S = X \setminus \operatorname{cl}_X (X \setminus S).$$

Therefore, the abstract theory of closure operators and the Kuratowski closure axioms can be readily translated into the language of interior operators by replacing sets with their complements in $$X.$$

In general, the closure operator does not commute with intersections. However, in a complete metric space the following result does hold:

$$

Facts about closures
A subset $$S$$ is closed in $$X$$ if and only if $$\operatorname{cl}_X S = S.$$ In particular:
 * The closure of the empty set is the empty set;
 * The closure of $$X$$ itself is $$X.$$
 * The closure of an intersection of sets is always a subset of (but need not be equal to) the intersection of the closures of the sets.
 * In a union of finitely many sets, the closure of the union and the union of the closures are equal; the union of zero sets is the empty set, and so this statement contains the earlier statement about the closure of the empty set as a special case.
 * The closure of the union of infinitely many sets need not equal the union of the closures, but it is always a superset of the union of the closures.
 * Thus, just as the union of two closed sets is closed, so too does closure distribute over binary unions: that is, $$\operatorname{cl}_X (S \cup T) = (\operatorname{cl}_X S) \cup (\operatorname{cl}_X T).$$ But just as a union of infinitely many closed sets is not necessarily closed, so too does closure not necessarily distribute over infinite unions: that is, $$\operatorname{cl}_X \left(\bigcup_{i \in I} S_i\right) \neq \bigcup_{i \in I} \operatorname{cl}_X S_i$$ is possible when $$I$$ is infinite.

If $$S \subseteq T \subseteq X$$ and if $$T$$ is a subspace of $$X$$ (meaning that $$T$$ is endowed with the subspace topology that $$X$$ induces on it), then $$\operatorname{cl}_T S \subseteq \operatorname{cl}_X S$$ and the closure of $$S$$ computed in $$T$$ is equal to the intersection of $$T$$ and the closure of $$S$$ computed in $$X$$: $$\operatorname{cl}_T S ~=~ T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S.$$

Because $$\operatorname{cl}_X S$$ is a closed subset of $$X,$$ the intersection $$T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S$$ is a closed subset of $$T$$ (by definition of the subspace topology), which implies that $$\operatorname{cl}_T S \subseteq T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S$$ (because $$\operatorname{cl}_T S$$ is the closed subset of $$T$$ containing $$S$$). Because $$\operatorname{cl}_T S$$ is a closed subset of $$T,$$ from the definition of the subspace topology, there must exist some set $$C \subseteq X$$ such that $$C$$ is closed in $$X$$ and $$\operatorname{cl}_T S = T \cap C.$$ Because $$S \subseteq \operatorname{cl}_T S \subseteq C$$ and $$C$$ is closed in $$X,$$ the minimality of $$\operatorname{cl}_X S$$ implies that $$\operatorname{cl}_X S \subseteq C.$$ Intersecting both sides with $$T$$ shows that $$T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S \subseteq T \cap C = \operatorname{cl}_T S.$$ $$\blacksquare$$

It follows that $$S \subseteq T$$ is a dense subset of $$T$$ if and only if $$T$$ is a subset of $$\operatorname{cl}_X S.$$ It is possible for $$\operatorname{cl}_T S = T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S$$ to be a proper subset of $$\operatorname{cl}_X S;$$ for example, take $$X = \R,$$ $$S = (0, 1),$$ and $$T = (0, \infty).$$

If $$S, T \subseteq X$$ but $$S$$ is not necessarily a subset of $$T$$ then only $$\operatorname{cl}_T (S \cap T) ~\subseteq~ T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S$$ is always guaranteed, where this containment could be strict (consider for instance $$X = \R$$ with the usual topology, $$T = (-\infty, 0],$$ and $$S = (0, \infty)$$ ), although if $$T$$ happens to an open subset of $$X$$ then the equality $$\operatorname{cl}_T (S \cap T) = T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S$$ will hold (no matter the relationship between $$S$$ and $$T$$).

Let $$S, T \subseteq X$$ and assume that $$T$$ is open in $$X.$$ Let $$C := \operatorname{cl}_T (T \cap S),$$ which is equal to $$T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X (T \cap S)$$ (because $$T \cap S \subseteq T \subseteq X$$). The complement $$T \setminus C$$ is open in $$T,$$ where $$T$$ being open in $$X$$ now implies that $$T \setminus C$$ is also open in $$X.$$ Consequently $$X \setminus (T \setminus C) = (X \setminus T) \cup C$$ is a closed subset of $$X$$ where $$(X \setminus T) \cup C$$ contains $$S$$ as a subset (because if $$s \in S$$ is in $$T$$ then $$s \in T \cap S \subseteq \operatorname{cl}_T (T \cap S) = C$$), which implies that $$\operatorname{cl}_X S \subseteq (X \setminus T) \cup C.$$ Intersecting both sides with $$T$$ proves that $$T \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S \subseteq T \cap C = C.$$ The reverse inclusion follows from $$C \subseteq \operatorname{cl}_X (T \cap S) \subseteq \operatorname{cl}_X S.$$ $$\blacksquare$$

Consequently, if $$\mathcal{U}$$ is any open cover of $$X$$ and if $$S \subseteq X$$ is any subset then: $$\operatorname{cl}_X S = \bigcup_{U \in \mathcal{U}} \operatorname{cl}_U (U \cap S)$$ because $$\operatorname{cl}_U (S \cap U) = U \cap \operatorname{cl}_X S$$ for every $$U \in \mathcal{U}$$ (where every $$U \in \mathcal{U}$$ is endowed with the subspace topology induced on it by $$X$$). This equality is particularly useful when $$X$$ is a manifold and the sets in the open cover $$\mathcal{U}$$ are domains of coordinate charts. In words, this result shows that the closure in $$X$$ of any subset $$S \subseteq X$$ can be computed "locally" in the sets of any open cover of $$X$$ and then unioned together. In this way, this result can be viewed as the analogue of the well-known fact that a subset $$S \subseteq X$$ is closed in $$X$$ if and only if it is "locally closed in $$X$$", meaning that if $$\mathcal{U}$$ is any open cover of $$X$$ then $$S$$ is closed in $$X$$ if and only if $$S \cap U$$ is closed in $$U$$ for every $$U \in \mathcal{U}.$$

Continuity
A function $$f : X \to Y$$ between topological spaces is continuous if and only if the preimage of every closed subset of the codomain is closed in the domain; explicitly, this means: $$f^{-1}(C)$$ is closed in $$X$$ whenever $$C$$ is a closed subset of $$Y.$$

In terms of the closure operator, $$f : X \to Y$$ is continuous if and only if for every subset $$A \subseteq X,$$ $$f\left(\operatorname{cl}_X A\right) ~\subseteq~ \operatorname{cl}_Y (f(A)).$$ That is to say, given any element $$x \in X$$ that belongs to the closure of a subset $$A \subseteq X,$$ $$f(x)$$ necessarily belongs to the closure of $$f(A)$$ in $$Y.$$ If we declare that a point $$x$$ is a subset $$A \subseteq X$$ if $$x \in \operatorname{cl}_X A,$$ then this terminology allows for a plain English description of continuity: $$f$$ is continuous if and only if for every subset $$A \subseteq X,$$ $$f$$ maps points that are close to $$A$$ to points that are close to $$f(A).$$ Thus continuous functions are exactly those functions that preserve (in the forward direction) the "closeness" relationship between points and sets: a function is continuous if and only if whenever a point is close to a set then the image of that point is close to the image of that set. Similarly, $$f$$ is continuous at a fixed given point $$x \in X$$ if and only if whenever $$x$$ is close to a subset $$A \subseteq X,$$ then $$f(x)$$ is close to $$f(A).$$

Closed maps
A function $$f : X \to Y$$ is a (strongly) closed map if and only if whenever $$C$$ is a closed subset of $$X$$ then $$f(C)$$ is a closed subset of $$Y.$$ In terms of the closure operator, $$f : X \to Y$$ is a (strongly) closed map if and only if $$\operatorname{cl}_Y f(A) \subseteq f\left(\operatorname{cl}_X A\right)$$ for every subset $$A \subseteq X.$$ Equivalently, $$f : X \to Y$$ is a (strongly) closed map if and only if $$\operatorname{cl}_Y f(C) \subseteq f(C)$$ for every closed subset $$C \subseteq X.$$

Categorical interpretation
One may define the closure operator in terms of universal arrows, as follows.

The powerset of a set $$X$$ may be realized as a partial order category $$P$$ in which the objects are subsets and the morphisms are inclusion maps $$A \to B$$ whenever $$A$$ is a subset of $$B.$$ Furthermore, a topology $$T$$ on $$X$$ is a subcategory of $$P$$ with inclusion functor $$I : T \to P.$$ The set of closed subsets containing a fixed subset $$A \subseteq X$$ can be identified with the comma category $$(A \downarrow I).$$ This category — also a partial order — then has initial object $$\operatorname{cl} A.$$ Thus there is a universal arrow from $$A$$ to $$I,$$ given by the inclusion $$A \to \operatorname{cl} A.$$

Similarly, since every closed set containing $$X \setminus A$$ corresponds with an open set contained in $$A$$ we can interpret the category $$(I \downarrow X \setminus A)$$ as the set of open subsets contained in $$A,$$ with terminal object $$\operatorname{int}(A),$$ the interior of $$A.$$

All properties of the closure can be derived from this definition and a few properties of the above categories. Moreover, this definition makes precise the analogy between the topological closure and other types of closures (for example algebraic closure), since all are examples of universal arrows.

title: Closure (topology)


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Marien Ngouabi

Marien Ngouabi (or N'Gouabi) (December 31, 1938 – March 18, 1977) was the fourth President of the Republic of the Congo from 1969 until his assassination in 1977.

Origins
Marien Ngouabi was born in 1938 at the village of Ombellé, Cuvette Department, in Kouyou territory to Dominique Osséré m'Opoma and Antoinette Mboualé-Abemba. He is originally from a kuyu humble family. From 1947 to 1953, he went to primary school in Owando. On 14 September 1953, he went to study at the Ecole des enfants de troupes Général Leclerc in Brazzaville and in 1957, he was sent to Bouar, Oubangui-Chari (now the Central African Republic).

After serving in Cameroon as a member of the second battalion of the tirailleurs with the rank of Sergeant (1958–1960), Ngouabi went to the Ecole Militaire Préparatoire in Strasbourg, France in September 1960 and then to the Ecole Inter-armes at Coëtquidan Saint-Cyr in 1961. He returned to Congo in 1962 as Second Lieutenant and was stationed at the Pointe-Noire garrison. He was assigned to the Pointe-Noire garrison as a deputy commander of an infantry battalion. In 1963, Ngouabi was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

Rise to power
In 1965, he created the first battalion of paratroopers in the Congo Republic. Known for his leftist views, in April 1966 Ngouabi was demoted to the rank of soldier second class when he refused to be posted again at Pointe-Noire, after rebelling against the army's inflexibility in politics and voicing strong criticism to the president. President Alphonse Massamba-Débat had Ngouabi and Second Lieutenant Eyabo arrested on July 29, 1968.

Ngouabi's arrest provoked discontent among the military, and on July 31, Ngouabi was freed by soldiers from the Civil Defense. The National Revolutionary Council (CNR), headed by Ngouabi, was created on August 5, 1968. On 1 October 1968, he was promoted to the rank of Commanding Officer, a rank he held until his death. Massamba-Débat, whose powers had been curtailed by the CNR, resigned on September 4, and Prime Minister Alfred Raoul served as acting head of state until December 31, 1968, when the CNR formally became the country's supreme authority and Ngouabi, as head of the CNR, assumed the presidency.

Head of state
Once in power, President Ngouabi changed the country's name to the People's Republic of the Congo, declaring it to be Africa's first Marxist–Leninist state, and founded the Congolese Workers' Party (Parti Congolais du Travail, PCT) as the country's only legal political party.

Ngouabi was a Mbochi from the north and his regime shifted control of the country away from the south. Such moves created opposition among the population in the highly politicized environment of Brazzaville. Bureaucratic centralism, repression, the "mechanism" of the party apparatus, and Ngouabi's tribalist orientation towards Mboshi and La Cuvette immigrants created opposition within the Communist Party itself, especially its youth organization. In the fall of 1971, students that went on strike in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire were severely repressed by the authorities. The situation in the country was severely destabilized. There was an attempted coup in February 1972 that triggered a series of 'purges' of the opposition. It is claimed that Ngouabi was under French pressure to annex the oil-rich Cabinda enclave, a part of Portuguese Angola, and his refusal to act cost him the French support. There is some speculation that the French financed several coups in order to remove Ngouabi in power. Starting in February 1973, the army began military operations in the Goma Tse-tse region to dismantle the M22 insurgency led by former army members led by Vice President Ange Diawara. During the same month, Ngouabi denounced another attempted Diawara coup and arrested 45 people, including Pascal Lissouba and Sylvain Bemba, Minister of Information. His trial took place from March 16 to 23. Several sentences were pronounced, while Lissouba was acquitted.

The M22 business abruptly ended on April 24, 1973, with the capture and execution of the maquis. The bodies of Diawara, Ikoko and

Bakekolo were toured around Brazzaville and exhibited by Ngouabi in person during a popular gathering held at the Stade de la Révolution. The lack of consideration for the lifeless bodies of the Maquis caused considerable disapproval nationally due to the cultural sensitivity surrounding the reverential treatment of dead bodies. He visited the People's Republic of China in July 1973.

Ngouabi was re-elected to his post as Chairman of the PCT Central Committee on December 30, 1974; he was additionally elected as Permanent Secretary of the PCT. He was then sworn in as president for another term on January 9, 1975. Also in 1975, he signed an economic aid pact with the Soviet Union.

On March 23, Lieutenant General Pierre Kinganga, in exile in Kinshasa in neighbouring Zaire since his alleged June 1969 coup attempt, disembarked in Brazzaville at the head of a commando attempting to overthrow the regime. His attempt failed and he was shot dead near the national radio station he had just taken. His body and that of his command members who fell with him remained exposed for a long time in front of the radio building. Several enthusiastic young supporters who had joined Kinganga's column were also armed. Captain Augustin Poignet, also involved, managed to escape to Kinshasa. A week later, 3 accomplices (Miawouama, Nkoutou and Mengo), sentenced by a court-martial, were executed. The command members and accomplices in the army and gendarmerie were convicted by the revolutionary court. After the events, Marien Ngouabi denounced the involvement of the CIA and President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the coup.

Following this attempt, the PCT met in an extraordinary congress from March 30 to April 2, 1970. The Political Bureau was expanded to 10 members, to the benefit of Ambroise Noumazalaye and Captain Sassou N'Guesso. The Gendarmerie, whose loyalty was not complete during the events, was dissolved and its members joined the army. The Council of State was reorganized.

On August 29, 1970, former Minister Stéphane-Maurice Bongo-Nouarra was arrested for a counter-revolutionary conspiracy. He was sentenced to 10 years of forced labour.

Assassination
On March 18, 1977, at 14:30 hours, President Ngouabi was assassinated. Those accused of taking part in the assassination were tried and some were executed including Massamba-Débat.

In the aftermath of the assassination, the Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was named to head an interim government with the conservative Colonel Joachim Yhombi-Opango to serve as Head of State.

Commemoration
March 18 is Marien Ngouabi Day in the Republic of Congo. The country's only university is the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville. Ngouabi is interred at the Marien Ngouabi Mausoleum in Brazzaville.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Marien Ngouabi


text:
Antanas Valionis

Antanas Valionis (born September 21, 1950) is a Lithuanian politician, currently a member of the New Union party.

He was appointed the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs on October 30, 2000, and reappointed on July 5, 2001. He resigned on August 31, 2006.

From 1981 he served in the Soviet secret police KGB in Riga reaching the rank of captain. Afterwards he served in the KGB active reserve.

title: Antanas Valionis


text:
The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Christopher Lee. The screenplay is by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 novel Ritual, and Paul Giovanni composed the film score.

The plot centres on the visit of a police officer, Sergeant Neil Howie, to the isolated Scottish island of Summerisle in search of a missing girl. Howie, a devout Christian, is appalled to find that the inhabitants of the island have abandoned Christianity and now practise a form of Celtic paganism.

The Wicker Man is well regarded by critics. Film magazine Cinefantastique described it as "The Citizen Kane of horror movies", and in 2004, Total Film magazine named The Wicker Man the sixth-greatest British film of all time. It also won the 1978 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. The final scene was number 45 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, and during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, it was included as part of a sequence that celebrated British cinema. The film brought the wicker man into modern popular culture.

In 1989, Shaffer wrote a script treatment for The Loathsome Lambton Worm, a direct sequel with fantasy elements. Hardy had no interest in the project, and it went unproduced. In 2006, a poorly received American remake starring Nicolas Cage was released, from which Hardy and others involved with the original have dissociated themselves. In 2011, a spiritual sequel written and directed by Hardy, The Wicker Tree, was released; it featured Lee in a cameo appearance. In 2013, the original U.S. theatrical version of The Wicker Man was digitally restored and released.

Plot
On 29 April, Sergeant Neil Howie journeys by seaplane to the remote, verdant Hebridean island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison, about whom he has received an anonymous letter. Howie, a devout Christian, is disturbed to find the Islanders paying homage to the pagan Celtic gods of their ancestors. They copulate openly in the fields, include children as part of the May Day celebrations, teach children of the phallic association of the maypole, and place toads in their mouths to cure sore throats. The islanders appear to be trying to thwart his investigation by claiming that Rowan never existed.

While staying at the Green Man Inn, the landlord's daughter attempts to seduce Howie, but he resists, explaining that he is engaged and saving himself for marriage. He notices a series of photographs celebrating the annual harvest, each featuring a young girl as the May Queen. The photograph of the most recent celebration is missing; the landlord tells him it was broken. At the local school, Howie asks the students about Rowan, but all deny her existence. He checks the school register and finds Rowan's name. He questions the schoolteacher, who directs him to Rowan's grave.

The next day, 30 April, Howie meets the island's leader, Lord Summerisle, grandson of a Victorian agronomist, to get permission for an exhumation. Summerisle explains that his grandfather developed strains of fruit trees that would prosper in Scotland's climate and encouraged the belief that the old gods would use the new strains to bring prosperity to the island among the pagan population. Due to the bountiful harvests, the island's other inhabitants gradually embraced paganism.

Exhuming the grave, Howie finds that the coffin contains only the carcass of a hare. He also finds the missing harvest photograph, showing Rowan standing amidst empty boxes; the harvest had failed. His research reveals that a human sacrifice is offered to the gods in the event of crop failure. He concludes that Rowan is alive and will soon be sacrificed to ensure a successful harvest.

The following morning, on May Day, Howie seeks assistance from the mainland and returns to his seaplane, only to discover it no longer functions and its radio is damaged; he cannot leave or call for help. Later that day, during the May Day celebration, Howie subdues the innkeeper and steals his costume and mask (that of Punch, the fool) to infiltrate the parade. Rowan is eventually revealed. Howie sets her free and flees with her into a cave. Exiting it, they are intercepted by the islanders, to whom Rowan happily returns.

Summerisle tells Howie that Rowan was never the intended sacrifice; Howie is. He fits their gods' four requirements: he came of his own free will, has "the power of a king" by representing the law, is a virgin, and is a "fool" by falling for their deception. Howie warns Summerisle and the islanders that the crops are failing due to the unsuitability of the climate, and that the villagers will turn on Summerisle and sacrifice him next summer when the next harvest fails again, but his pleas are ignored. The villagers force Howie inside a giant wicker man statue along with various animals, set it ablaze, and surround it, singing the Middle English folk song "Sumer Is Icumen In". Inside the wicker man, Howie recites Psalm 23 and prays to God. Howie and the animals burn to death as the head of the wicker man collapses in flames, revealing the setting sun.

Cast

 * Edward Woodward as Sgt. Neil Howie
 * Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle
 * Britt Ekland as Willow MacGregor
 * Annie Ross as Willow MacGregor (voice)
 * Rachel Verney as Willow MacGregor (singing voice)
 * Lesley Mackie as Daisy
 * Diane Cilento as Miss Rose
 * Ingrid Pitt as Librarian
 * Lindsay Kemp as Alder MacGregor (the landlord)
 * Ian Campbell as Oak
 * Russell Waters as Harbour Master
 * Aubrey Morris as Old Gardener/Gravedigger
 * Irene Sunter as May Morrison
 * Jennifer Martin as Myrtle Morrison
 * Donald Eccles as T.H. Lennox
 * Walter Carr as Schoolmaster
 * Roy Boyd as Broome
 * Peter Brewis as Musician
 * Geraldine Cowper as Rowan Morrison
 * John Young as Fishmonger
 * Myra Forsyth as Mrs Grimmond
 * Alison Hughes as Sgt Howie's fiancé
 * Barbara Rafferty as woman with baby
 * John Sharp as Doctor Ewan (longer version)
 * John Hallam as Police Constable McTaggart (longer version)
 * Tony Roper as Postman (longer version)

Background
In the early 1970s, Christopher Lee was a Hammer Horror regular, best known for his roles in a series of successful films, beginning with The Curse of Frankenstein (as the monster, 1957). Lee wanted to break free of this image and take on more interesting acting roles. The idea for The Wicker Man film began in 1971 when Lee met with screenwriter Anthony Shaffer, and they agreed to work together. Film director Robin Hardy and British Lion head Peter Snell became involved in the project. Shaffer had a series of conversations with Hardy, and the two decided that making a horror film centring on "old religion" would be fun, in sharp contrast to the Hammer films they had both seen as horror-film fans.

Shaffer read the David Pinner novel Ritual, in which a devout Christian policeman is called to investigate what appears to be the ritual murder of a young girl in a rural village, and decided that it would serve well as the source material for the project. Pinner had originally written Ritual as a film treatment for director Michael Winner, who had John Hurt in mind as a possible star. Winner eventually declined the project, so Pinner's agent persuaded him to write Ritual as a novel instead. Shaffer and Lee paid Pinner £15,000 for the rights to the novel, and Shaffer set to work on the screenplay. He soon decided that a direct adaptation would not work well, so drafted a new story based only loosely on the story of the novel.

Shaffer wanted the film to be "a little more literate" than the average horror picture. He specifically wanted a film with a minimum of violence and gore. He was tired of seeing horror films that relied almost entirely on viscera to be scary. The focus of the film was crystallised when he "finally hit upon the abstract concept of sacrifice." The image of the wicker man, which gave the filmmakers their title, was taken from the description of the practice of human sacrifice by the Gauls in Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War: "Others have figures of vast size, the limbs of which formed of osiers they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the men perish enveloped in the flames." For Shaffer, this was "the most alarming and imposing image that I had ever seen." The idea of a confrontation between a modern Christian and a remote, pagan community continued to intrigue Shaffer, who performed painstaking research on paganism. Brainstorming with Hardy, they conceived the film as presenting the pagan elements objectively and accurately, accompanied by authentic music and a believable, contemporary setting. One of their main resources was The Golden Bough, a study of mythology and religion written by Scottish anthropologist James Frazer.

Casting
Television actor Edward Woodward was cast in the role of Sergeant Neil Howie after the part was declined by both Michael York and David Hemmings. In Britain, Woodward was best known for the role of Callan, which he played from 1967 to 1972. After The Wicker Man, Woodward went on to receive international attention for his roles in the 1980 film Breaker Morant and the 1980s TV series The Equalizer.

After Shaffer saw her on the stage, he lured Diane Cilento out of semi-retirement to play the town's schoolmistress. (They lived together in Queensland from 1975, and married in 1985). Ingrid Pitt, another British horror film veteran, was cast as the town librarian and registrar. Swedish actress Britt Ekland was cast as the innkeeper's lascivious daughter, although two body doubles were used for her naked scenes below the waist. Ekland found out that she was three months pregnant with her son Nic, to Lou Adler two weeks into filming. Stuart Hopps (the film's choreographer) called upon Lorraine Peters, a nightclub dancer from Glasgow, who gyrated at the doorway and against the wall of a bedroom in the fully nude "wall" scenes. Her speaking and singing voices were dubbed by Annie Ross and Rachel Verney respectively.

Local girl Jane Jackson was employed as Ekland's stand-in for camera setups. Jackson was blond-haired and bore a resemblance to Ekland, but was otherwise not involved in any filming.

Filming
The film was produced at a time of crisis for the British film industry. The studio in charge of production, British Lion Films, was in financial trouble and was bought by wealthy businessman John Bentley. To convince the unions that he was not about to asset-strip the company, Bentley needed to get a film into production quickly. This meant that although The Wicker Man was set in spring, filming actually began in October 1972; artificial leaves and blossoms had to be glued to trees in many scenes. The production was kept on a small budget. Christopher Lee was extremely keen to get the film made; he and others worked on the production without pay. While filming took place, British Lion was bought by EMI Films.

The film was shot almost entirely in the small Scottish towns of Stranraer, Gatehouse of Fleet, Newton Stewart, Kirkcudbright, Anwoth and Creetown in Galloway, as well as Plockton in Ross-shire. Some scenes were filmed in and around the Isle of Whithorn, where the owners of the castle, Elizabeth McAdam McLaughland and David Wheatley, plus several other local people, featured in various scenes. Culzean Castle in Ayrshire and its grounds and Floors Castle in Roxburghshire were also used for the shooting. Some of the opening flying shots feature the Isle of Skye, including the pinnacles of The Storr and the Quiraing. The interior cave scenes were filmed inside Wookey Hole in Somerset. Hush Heath Estate in Staplehurst, Kent, makes a brief appearance in the film, doubling as Lord Summerisle's orchard and gardens. The climax of the film was shot at St Ninian's Cave and on the clifftops at Burrow Head in Wigtownshire.

The amphibious aircraft that carries Sergeant Howie was a Thurston Teal, owned and flown in the aerial sequences by Christopher Murphy.

According to Britt Ekland, some animals perished in the wicker man, whereas Robin Hardy said in an interview that great care was taken to ensure that the animals were in no danger of being hurt during this scene, and that they were not inside the wicker man when it was set on fire.

Music
The score was arranged, recorded and part composed by Paul Giovanni. According to Seamus Flannery in a subsequent documentary, director Robin Hardy surprised the cast by suddenly announcing midway through filming that they were making a "musical", and performed by Magnet (in some versions of the film credited as "Lodestone"), the soundtrack contains 13 folk songs performed by characters in the film. Included are traditional songs, original compositions by Giovanni, and even a nursery rhyme, "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep".

"Willow's Song" has been covered or sampled by various rock music bands. It was first covered by an English musical project known as Nature and Organisation on their 1994 release Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude. It was covered by Sneaker Pimps as "How Do", and is included on their 1996 release Becoming X. "How Do" can be heard in the movie Hostel (2005); credited in the end titles as being composed by Sneaker Pimps. Additionally, the band has covered "Gently Johnny" as "Johnny"; it is featured as a B-side on their single "Roll On" (1996). It also was covered by Faith and the Muse on their 2003 album The Burning Season, and The Mock Turtles on their album Turtle Soup.

The songs on the soundtrack were composed or arranged by Giovanni under the direction of Hardy and Shaffer, whose research into the oral folk tradition in England and Scotland was based largely on the work of Cecil Sharp, a "founding father" of the folk-revival movement of the early 20th century. Using Sharp's collections as a template, Shaffer noted to Giovanni which scenes were to have music, and in some cases provided lyrics, which would be appropriate to spring pagan festivals. Other songs on the soundtrack come from a later folk tradition; for example, "Corn Riggs", by Scotland's national bard, Robert Burns, accompanies Howie's arrival on Summerisle. The lyrics of this song were taken directly from the Burns song "The Rigs of Barley", but Giovanni used a very different tune. Burns' tune was based on "Corn Riggs",  and altered to match his lyrics. The song sung by the cultists of Summerisle at the end of the film, "Sumer Is Icumen In", is a mid-13th-century song about nature in spring.

The Wickerman Festival was an annual music festival held near Auchencairn in Galloway. Dubbed "Scotland's Alternative Music festival", it began in 2001 when the festival's artistic director Sid Ambrose hit upon the idea of a local counterculture based family-friendly festival due to the surrounding area being inextricably linked with various locations used within The Wicker Man. It was held annually until 2015 at East Kirkcarswell Farm, Dundrennan.

Distribution
By the time of the film's completion, the studio had been bought by EMI, and British Lion was managed by Michael Deeley. The DVD commentary track states that studio executives suggested a more "upbeat" ending to the film, in which a sudden rain puts the flames of the wicker man out and spares Howie's life, but this suggestion was refused. Hardy subsequently had to remove about 20 minutes of scenes on the mainland, early investigations, and (to Lee's disappointment) some of Lord Summerisle's initial meeting with Howie.

Original release
The first screening of the film was to trade and cinema distributors on 3 December 1973. The first public theatrical release was a week of test screenings at the Metropole Cinema London on 6 December 1973 ahead of the official public release in January 1974. It runs 87 minutes.

A copy of a finished, 99-minute version was sent to American film producer Roger Corman in Hollywood to make a judgment of how to market the film in the US. Corman recommended an additional 13 minutes be cut from the film. (Corman did not acquire US release rights, and eventually Warner Bros. test-marketed the film in drive-ins.) In Britain, the film was ordered reduced to roughly 87 minutes, with some narrative restructuring, and released as the "B" picture on a double bill with Don't Look Now. According to Lee, the cuts adversely affected the film's continuity.

First restoration
During the mid-1970s, Hardy made inquiries about the film, hoping to restore it to his original vision. Along with Lee and Shaffer, Hardy searched for his original cut, or raw footage. Both of these appeared to have been lost. Director Alex Cox said in his Moviedrome introduction in 1988 that the negative had "ended up in the pylons that support the M4 motorway." Hardy recalled that a copy of the film made prior to Deeley's cuts was sent to Roger Corman, who, it turned out, still had it, possibly the only existing print of Hardy's original cut. The US rights had been sold by Warner Bros. to a small firm called Abraxas, managed by film buff Stirling Smith and critic John Alan Simon. Stirling agreed to an American release of a reconstruction by Hardy. Hardy restored the narrative structure, some of the erotic elements which had been excised, and a very brief pretitle segment of Howie on the mainland (appearing at a church with his fiancée). A 96-minute restored version was released in January 1979, again to critical acclaim.

US VHS versions
The original 99-minute version was available in the US on VHS home video from Media Home Entertainment (and later Magnum) during the 1980s and 1990s. This video includes additional early scenes set inside Howie's police station, which Hardy had left out of the 1979 restoration. In 2001, a remaster of the 88-minute cut was released on VHS, labeled as the "Theatrical Version".

Director's cut
In 2001, the film's new world rights owners, Canal+, tried to release the full-length film. Corman's copy had been lost, but a telecine transfer to 1-inch videotape existed. Missing elements were combined with film elements from the previous versions (in particular, additional scenes of Howie on the mainland were restored, showing him to be the object of gossip at his police station, establishing his devout religiosity). The extended DVD cut was released by Canal+ (Anchor Bay Entertainment handling US DVD distribution) in this 99-minute hybrid, considered the longest and closest version to Hardy's original 100-odd minute version. A two-disc limited edition set was sold with the shortened theatrical release, the new extended version and a documentary, The Wicker Man Enigma. In 2005, Inside The Wicker Man author Allan Brown revealed he had discovered stills taken on the set showing sequences from the script that had never been seen; it had never been certain that the scenes had been filmed. They include scenes where Howie closes a mainland pub open after hours, encounters a prostitute, has a massage from Willow McGregor, and sees a brutal confrontation between Oak and a villager in The Green Man, which were featured in a revised edition of Inside the Wicker Man. Anchor Bay released a limited-edition wooden box of The Wicker Man. About 50,000 two-disc sets were made, of which 20 were signed by Lee and Woodward, Shaffer, Snell, and Hardy. In March 2002, Lee discussed the lost original cut, "I still believe it exists somewhere, in cans with no name. I still believe that. But nobody's ever seen it since, so we couldn't re-cut it, re-edit it, which was what I wanted to do. It would have been ten times as good".

The Final Cut
European distributors of the film StudioCanal began a Facebook campaign in 2013 to find missing material, which culminated in the discovery of a 92-minute 35 mm print at the Harvard Film Archive. This print had previously been known as the "Middle Version" and was itself assembled from a 35 mm print of the original edit Robin Hardy had made in the United Kingdom in 1973, but which was never released. Robin Hardy believed that the original edit will probably never be found, saying, "Sadly, it seems as though this has been lost forever. However, I am delighted that a 1979 Abraxas print has been found as I also put together this cut myself, and it crucially restores the story order to that which I had originally intended."

Hardy reported in July 2013 that Studiocanal intended to restore and release the most complete version possible of the film. Rialto Pictures announced that it was to release the new digital restoration in North American cinemas on 27 September 2013. This new version was also released on DVD on 13 October 2013. It is 91 minutes long, shorter than the director's cut but longer than the theatrical cut, and is known as The Wicker Man: The Final Cut.

The Final Cut (UK) Blu-ray (2013) features short documentaries "Burnt Offering: The Cult of the Wicker Man", "Worshipping the Wicker Man", "The Music of the Wicker Man", interviews with director Robin Hardy and actor Christopher Lee, a restoration comparison, and the theatrical trailer. The second disc features both the UK 87-minute theatrical cut and the 95-minute 2013 director's cut, along with an audio commentary on the director's cut and a making-of for the commentary. The third disc is the soundtrack to the film.

50th Anniversary: 4K restorations, Final Cut screenings and 'Musics from Summerisle'
In 2023, for the 50th anniversary of the film's release, StudioCanal announced 4K resolution restoration of existing footage, and remastering of the existing three cuts for a "4K Ultra HD Collector's Edition" release on 25 September 2023.

On 21 June, the 4K restoration Final Cut was screened in cinemas across the UK along with a Q&A filmed in London, hosted by Edith Bowman with guests including Britt Ekland, and Robin Hardy's sons Julian and Dominic promoting their "Wickermania!" documentary.

On 24 June, the Barbican Centre held "Musics from Summerisle", a live performance celebration of the anniversary.

Reception
David McGillivray of The Monthly Film Bulletin praised the film as "an immensely enjoyable piece of hokum, thoroughly well researched, performed and directed." Variety wrote that Anthony Shaffer's screenplay "for sheer imagination and near-terror, has seldom been equalled." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a witty work of the macabre" with "the splendid performances typical of British films." Janet Maslin of The New York Times was more negative, calling it "handsomely photographed" with "good performances," but "something of a howl" even though "it seems to have been made in all seriousness."

The Wicker Man initially had moderate success and won the Golden Licorn for Best Film at the 1974 Paris International Festival of Fantastic and Science-Fiction Film, but largely slipped into obscurity. In 1977 the American film magazine Cinefantastique devoted a commemorative issue to the film, asserting that the film is "the Citizen Kane of horror movies" – an oft-quoted phrase attributed to this issue.

Decades after its release, the film still receives positive reviews from critics and is considered one of the best films of 1973. At the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Wicker Man holds an 90% "Fresh" rating based on 61 reviews, with a weighted average score of 8/10 and the site's consensus: "This intelligent horror film is subtle in its thrills and chills, with an ending that is both shocking and truly memorable". In 2008, The Wicker Man was ranked by Empire at No. 485 of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. Christopher Lee considered The Wicker Man his best film. Similarly, Edward Woodward said that The Wicker Man was one of his favourite films and that the character of Howie was the best part he ever played. In addition to Lee's admiration of the final shot of the film (of the collapsing Wicker man), Woodward said that it is the best final shot of any film ever made. In 2010 The Guardian newspaper ranked it as No 4 in its "25 best horror films of all time" listings.

In his 2010 BBC documentary series A History of Horror, writer and actor Mark Gatiss referred to the film as a prime example of a short-lived subgenre he called "folk horror", grouping it with 1968's Witchfinder General and 1971's The Blood on Satan's Claw. In 2003, the Crichton Campus of the University of Glasgow in Dumfries hosted a three-day conference on The Wicker Man, which resulted in the publication of two collections of papers about the film. In 2004, The Wicker Man ranked No, 45 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

Popular culture
The film brought the wicker man into modern popular culture. In recent times, a wicker man has been burnt at festivals such as Burning Man in the United States, and the former Wickerman Festival in Scotland.

In 1998, Swedish black metal band Marduk used a line from this film on the introduction to the track "Slay The Nazarene" from the album Nightwing.

In 2000, British heavy metal band Iron Maiden released a single called "The Wicker Man" in tribute to the film. In 2016, British band Radiohead released the music video for the song "Burn the Witch", made in stop-motion animation and whose storyline greatly resembles that of The Wicker Man.

In 2001, British band Pulp released "Wickerman" on their We Love Life album, which features a sample of Willow's Song.

The White, a 2008 EP by American extreme metal band Agalloch, included three tracks featuring samples of dialogue from the film: "The Isle of Summer", "Summerisle Reprise", and "Sowilo Rune"

In the film Shallow Grave, Ewan McGregor's character is shown watching the final scene, representing the building sense of doom the character is experiencing.

The creators of The League of Gentlemen television series often reference the film in their work, particularly in the Inside No. 9 episode 'Mr King'.

Novelisation
A novelisation, which expands on the story and bears the same title, was released in 1978. It was written by Hardy and Shaffer.

Possible sequel
In 1989, Shaffer wrote a 30-page film script treatment entitled The Loathsome Lambton Worm, a direct sequel to The Wicker Man, for producer Lance Reynolds. It would have been more fantastical in subject matter than the original film, and relied more heavily on special effects. In this continuation of the story, which begins immediately after the ending of the first film, Sergeant Neil Howie is rescued from the burning Wicker Man by a group of police officers from the mainland. Howie sets out to bring Lord Summerisle and his pagan followers to justice, but becomes embroiled in a series of challenges which pit the old gods against his own Christian faith. The script culminates in a climactic battle between Howie and a fire-breathing dragon – the titular Lambton Worm – and ends with a suicidal Howie plunging to his death from a cliff while tied to two large eagles. Shaffer's sequel was never produced, but his treatment, complete with illustrations, was eventually published in the companion book Inside The Wicker Man.

Hardy was not asked to direct the sequel, and never read the script, as he did not like the idea of Howie surviving the sacrifice, or the fact that the actors would have aged by 20 to 30 years between the two films. In May 2010, Hardy discussed The Loathsome Lambton Worm. "I know Tony did write that, but I don't think anyone particularly liked it, or it would have been made."

A fan-made full-cast audio drama adaptation of Shaffer's The Loathsome Lambton Worm treatment was eventually released in 2020.

Remake
An American remake of the same name, starring Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn, and directed by Neil LaBute was released in 2006. Hardy expressed concern about the remake.

Stage production
A stage adaptation was announced for the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and was directed by Andrew Steggall. The production was based jointly upon Anthony Shaffer's original The Wicker Man script and David Pinner's novel Ritual. Robin Hardy gave input on the project, and original songs and music from the film were supervised by Gary Carpenter, the original music director. Workshop rehearsals were held at The Drill Hall in London in March 2008, and a casting call was held in Glasgow in May 2009. After three weeks at the Pleasance in Edinburgh in August 2009, the production was to visit the Perth Rep, Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, and then have a short run at Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow, with hopes for a run in London in 2010. However, in July 2009 it was announced that the production had been cancelled, three weeks before it had been due to preview.

In 2011, the National Theatre of Scotland produced An Appointment with the Wicker Man written by Greg Hemphill and Donald McCleary. The production has an amateur theatre company attempting to stage a Wicker Man musical.

Spiritual sequel
In 2011, a spiritual successor entitled The Wicker Tree was released. It was directed by Hardy and featured an appearance by Lee. Hardy first published the story as a novel, under the name Cowboys for Christ. First announced in April 2000, filming on the project began on 19 July 2009 according to IMDb. It follows two young American Christian evangelists who travel to Scotland; like Woodward's character in The Wicker Man, the two Americans are virgins who encounter a pagan laird and his followers. The film received mixed reviews.

Those involved in the production of the film have given conflicting statements regarding the identity of Christopher Lee's character, referred to only as Old Gentleman in the credits. Writer/director Robin Hardy said that the ambiguity was intentional. Fans would immediately recognise Lee's character as Lord Summerisle. Lee himself has contradicted this, stating that the two are not meant to be the same character, and that The Wicker Tree is not a sequel in any way.

Audio adaptation
A radio adaptation by Anthony D.P. Mann was produced by Bleak December Inc. in an arrangement with StudioCanal and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 2 December 2023 as part of a "Wicker Man"-themed evening of programmes. The cast included Mann as Sergeant Howie, Brian Blessed as Lord Summerisle, Laurence R. Harvey as MacGregor, Anne-Marie Bergman as Miss Rose, Melissa Radford as Willow and Mei Kiera as Rowan Morrison/Heather.

Potential graphic novel and third film
As a former artist, Hardy expressed great interest in the medium of comics, and planned a comic book which would retell the story of The Wicker Man, based on his own storyboards for the film. Hardy was in talks with yet unnamed artists to work on the project, as he found it too difficult to make the characters look consistent from one panel to the next. Hardy was working on his next film, The Wrath of the Gods, at the time of his death on 1 July 2016. He intended the graphic novel and the new film to be released at the same time in autumn 2013; however as of autumn 2014 neither had been released, and the film never started production.

Wickermania! documentary
In 2023, two of Robin Hardy's sons, Justin and Dominic, announced that they had created a documentary about The Wicker Man, called Wickermania!. They had already received permission and a discount from Canal+ to use existing film footage, and had a number of original documents related to the production. They were seeking to fund the release of documentary via Kickstarter.

The Wicker Man: The Official Story of the Film book
On 24 October 2023, a new behind-the-scenes book The Wicker Man: The Official Story of the Film was published by Titan Books and written by John Walsh containing new interviews, photos and others materials from the film. It was licensed by the film’s rights holder StudioCanal.

Sing-along-a-Wickerman
British performers David Bramwell and Eliza Skelton host a travelling show entitled Sing-along-a-Wickerman, which includes many Wicker Man-themed activities culminating in a sing-along screening of the film. The show has been going since at least 2011, and has received positive reviews from news outlets such as The Guardian and Time Out. Director of the film Robin Hardy has attended and has been a part of several shows, calling it "terrific fun."

title: The Wicker Man


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Naturalization

Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the United Nations excludes citizenship that is automatically acquired (e.g. at birth) or is acquired by declaration. Naturalization usually involves an application or a motion and approval by legal authorities. The rules of naturalization vary from country to country but typically include a promise to obey and uphold that country's laws and taking and subscribing to an oath of allegiance, and may specify other requirements such as a minimum legal residency and adequate knowledge of the national dominant language or culture. To counter multiple citizenship, some countries require that applicants for naturalization renounce any other citizenship that they currently hold, but whether this renunciation actually causes loss of original citizenship, as seen by the host country and by the original country, will depend on the laws of the countries involved.

History
The massive increase in population flux due to globalization and the sharp increase in the numbers of refugees following World War I created many stateless persons, people who were not citizens of any state. In some rare cases, laws for mass naturalization were passed. As naturalization laws had been designed to cater for the relatively few people who had voluntarily moved from one country to another (expatriates), many western democracies were not ready to naturalize large numbers of people. This included the massive influx of stateless people which followed massive denationalizations and the expulsion of ethnic minorities from newly created nation states in the first part of the 20th century.

Since World War II, the increase in international migrations created a new category of migrants, most of them economic migrants. For economic, political, humanitarian and pragmatic reasons, many states passed laws allowing a person to acquire their citizenship after birth, such as by marriage to a national – jus matrimonii – or by having ancestors who are nationals of that country, in order to reduce the scope of this category. However, in some countries this system still maintains a large part of the immigrant population in an illegal status, albeit with some massive regularizations. Examples include Spain under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government, and Italy under Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Countries without a path to naturalization
Myanmar and Uruguay are currently the only countries in the world that deny immigrants any path to naturalization. Uruguayan legal citizenship has special characteristics. A person who acquires it retains their nationality of origin, which is determined by Uruguayan law to be that of their country of birth and therefore, is immutable. Legal citizens acquire political rights but do not acquire Uruguayan nationality as natural citizens do. According to Uruguayan law, those born in Uruguay or whose parents or grandparents are Uruguayan natural citizens are considered to be Uruguayan nationals.

As a result of Uruguay's unusual distinction between citizenship and nationality (it is the only country in the world that recognizes the right to citizenship without being a national), legal citizens have encountered problems with their Uruguayan passports at airports around the world since 2015. This is due to recommendations in the seventh edition of Doc. 9303 of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which requires that travel documents issued by participating states include the "Nationality" field. The lack of a naturalization path means that the Nationality field in legal citizens' passports indicates their country of birth, which Uruguay assumes to be their nationality of origin. Many countries do not accept passports issued by a country that declares the holder to be a national of another country. As a consequence, it has severely curtailed legal citizens' exercise of the right to free movement, as their travel abroad is often difficult or downright impossible.

Due to its current and narrow definition of nationality, Uruguay could be violating the sovereignty of other countries by assigning foreign nationalities in its official documents, thus overriding their powers. Some Uruguayan legal citizens may even, as a result of the application of a national law of a third nation and this Uruguayan interpretation, become de facto stateless.

Summary by country
The following list is a brief summary of the duration of legal residence before a national of a foreign state, without any cultural, historical, or marriage ties or connections to the state in question, can request citizenship under that state's naturalization laws.

Australia
The Australian Citizenship Act 1973 ended the preferential treatment for British subjects from 1 December 1973. People who became permanent residents from 1 July 2007 must have been lawfully resident in Australia for four years before applying for citizenship by conferral. Those who were present in Australia as permanent residents before 1 July 2007 remain subject to the previous residence requirement (in force since 1984, e.g. resident for two years).

People's Republic of China
The People's Republic of China gives citizenship to people with one or two parents with Chinese nationality who have not taken residence in other countries. The country also gives citizenship to people born on its territory to stateless people who have settled there. Furthermore, individuals may apply for nationality if they have a near relative with Chinese nationality, if they have settled in China, or if they present another legitimate reason. In practice, few people gain Chinese citizenship; as of 2010, China had only 1,448 naturalised Chinese in total.

The naturalization process starts with a written application. Applicants must submit three copies, written with a ball-point or fountain pen, to national authorities, and to provincial authorities in the Ministry of Public Security and the Public Security Bureau. Applicants must also submit original copies of a foreign passport, a residence permit, a permanent residence permit, and four two-and-a-half inch long pictures. According to the conditions outlined in the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, authorities may also require "any other material that the authority believes are related to the nationality application".

France
People who fulfil all of the following criteria can obtain French citizenship through naturalisation:

 * At least 10 years' residence, although reduced to the following minimum periods in certain situations:
 * 2 years:
 * Successfully completed 2 years of studies with a view to obtaining a degree or diploma at a French higher educational institution;
 * Made an exceptional contribution to France's standing and influence in the arts, science, sport, culture, academia, entrepreneurship, etc.
 * No minimum residence period:
 * Performed military service with the French Army;
 * Served voluntarily in wartime in the French Army or an allied army;
 * Rendered exceptional service to France (requires personal ministerial approval);
 * Attained the official status of a refugee in France;
 * Citizen of a member state of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and have French as their native language or have completed at least 5 years of schooling in a French-speaking educational establishment.
 * Integration into French society, including adhering to the values and principles of the Republic, and having a sufficient knowledge of French history, culture and society;
 * Sufficient spoken command of the French language;
 * No serious criminal convictions, defined as follows:
 * Never been sentenced to more than 6 months' imprisonment (not including suspended sentences) for any crime (unless the applicant has been legally deemed rehabilitated or the sentence has been wiped from their criminal record);
 * Never been convicted of any crime that counters France's fundamental interests (unless the applicant has been legally deemed rehabilitated or the sentence has been wiped from their criminal record);
 * Never been convicted of any act of terrorism (unless the applicant has been legally deemed rehabilitated or the sentence has been wiped from their criminal record).

The fee for naturalisation is €55, except in French Guiana, where it is €27.50.

Germany
People who fulfil all of the following criteria can obtain German citizenship through naturalisation:

The dependent minor children of an applicant for naturalisation may also themselves become naturalised German citizens.
 * At least 8 years' residence in Germany with a valid residence permit. This minimum period is reduced as follows:
 * 7 years for people who have successfully completed the Integrationskurs;
 * 3 years for spouses and registered same-sex partners of a German citizen (must have been married or in the registered partnership for at least 2 years at the time of application).
 * Declaring allegiance to the German Constitution;
 * Sufficient command of the German language;
 * No serious criminal convictions.

The fee for standard naturalisation is €255, while it is €51 per dependent minor child naturalised along with their parent. The fee may be waived in cases of extreme hardship or public interest.

People who naturalise as German citizens must usually give up their previous nationality, as German law takes a restrictive approach to multiple citizenship. Exceptions are made for EU and Swiss citizens (provided that the law of their country of origin does not prohibit the acquisition of another citizenship) and citizens of countries where renouncing one's citizenship is too difficult or humiliating (e.g. Afghanistan), prohibitively expensive (e.g. the United States) or legally impossible (e.g. Argentina).

Grenada
The Grenadian Government grants citizenship of Grenada for the following reasons:

 * By Birth
 * Any person born in Grenada after 1974 or later acquires Grenadian citizenship at birth. The exception is for children born to diplomat parents.
 * By Descent
 * Children born outside Grenada to a Grenadian-born parent.
 * By Registration
 * Children (over 18) born outside of Grenada to a Grenadian parent.
 * Children (under 18) born outside of Grenada to a Grenadian parent.
 * A person who was born outside of Grenada who is a Grandchild of a Grenadian citizen by birth.
 * A person who is/or has been married to a citizen of Grenada.
 * Citizens of Caribbean Countries may apply for citizenship by registration provided that person has been living in Grenada for 4 years and 2 years as a Permanent Resident (within the four-year period) immediately preceding the date of application.
 * Commonwealth & Irish citizens may apply for citizenship by registration provided that the person has been living in Grenada for 7 years and 2 years as a Permanent Resident (within the seven-year period) immediately preceding the date of application.
 * By Naturalisation
 * An Alien or a British Protected Person may apply for citizenship by naturalisation provided that the person has been living in Grenada for 7 years and 2 years as a Permanent Resident (within the seven-year period) immediately preceding the date of application..

India
The Indian citizenship and nationality law and the Constitution of India provides single citizenship for the entire country. The provisions relating to citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution are contained in Articles 5 to 11 in Part II of the Constitution of India. Relevant Indian legislation is the Citizenship Act 1955, which has been amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1992, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003, and Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance 2005. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003 received the assent of the President of India on 7 January 2004 and came into force on 3 December 2004. The Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance 2005 was promulgated by the President of India and came into force on 28 June 2005.

Following these reforms, Indian nationality law largely follows the jus sanguinis (citizenship by right of blood) as opposed to the jus soli (citizenship by right of birth within the territory).

In 2019, a Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by the Parliament of India. This Act aims at fast tracking citizenship for illegal immigrants and refugees fleeing religious persecution for people of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian faiths who have entered India on or before 31 December 2014 from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Italy
The Italian Government grants Italian citizenship for the following reasons.

 * Automatically
 * Jus sanguinis: for birth;
 * If an Italian citizen recognizes, at a time after birth, a minor child;
 * For adoption;
 * To obtain or re-obtain from a parent.
 * Following declaration
 * By descent;
 * Jus soli: by birth or descent in Italy;
 * By marriage or naturalization
 * By marriage: the foreign or stateless spouse of an Italian citizen may acquire Italian citizenship after two years of legal residence in Italy or, if residing abroad, after three years from the date of marriage;
 * By naturalization: the foreigner can apply for Italian citizenship after ten years of legal residence in Italy, reduced to five years for those who have been recognized as stateless or refugee and four years for citizens of countries of the European Community.

Indonesia
Indonesian nationality is regulated by Law No. 12/2006 (UU No. 12 Tahun 2006). The Indonesian nationality law is based on jus sanguinis and jus soli. The Indonesian nationality law does not recognize dual citizenship except for people under the age of 18 (limited double citizenship principle). After reaching 18 years of age individuals are forced to choose one citizenship (single citizenship principle).

A foreign citizen can apply to become an Indonesian citizen with the following requirements:
 * Age 18 or older, or married
 * Resided in Indonesia for a minimum of 5 consecutive years or 10 non-consecutive years
 * Physically and mentally healthy
 * Ability to speak Indonesian and acknowledge Pancasila and Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945
 * Never convicted of a crime for which the punishment is imprisonment for one year or more
 * If having Indonesian citizenship will not give the person dual citizenship
 * Employed or have fixed income
 * Pay citizenship fee

Any application for citizenship is granted by the President of Indonesia.

Israel
Israel's Declaration of Independence was made on 14 May 1948, the day before the British Mandate was due to expire as a result of the United Nations Partition Plan. The Israeli parliament created two laws regarding immigration, citizenship and naturalization: the Law of Return and the Israeli citizenship law. The Law of Return, enacted on July 15, 1950, gives Jews living anywhere in the world the right to immigrate to Israel. This right to immigrate did not and still does not grant citizenship. In fact, for four years after Israel gained independence, there were no Israeli citizens.

On July 14, 1952, the Israeli parliament enacted the Israeli Nationality Law. The Nationality Law naturalized all citizens of Mandated Palestine, the inhabitants of Israel on July 15, 1952, and those who had legally resided in Israel between May 14, 1948, and July 14, 1952. The law further clarified that naturalization was available to immigrants who had arrived before Israel's creation, immigrants who arrived after statehood was granted, and those who did not come to Israel as immigrants but have since expressed desire to settle in Israel, with restriction. Naturalization applicants must also meet the following requirements: be over 18 years of age, have resided in Israel for three out of the five preceding years, have settled or intend to settle permanently in Israel, have some knowledge of Hebrew, and have renounced prior nationality or demonstrated ability to renounce nationality after becoming a citizen of Israel.

Because of Israel's relatively new and culturally mixed identity, Israel does not grant citizenship to people born on Israeli soil. Instead, the government chose to enact a jus sanguinis system, with the naturalization restrictions listed above. There is currently no legislation on second-generation immigrants (those born in Israel to immigrant parents). Furthermore, foreign spouses can apply for citizenship through the Minister of the Interior, but have a variety of restrictions and are not guaranteed citizenship.

Luxembourg
People who fulfil all of the following criteria can obtain Luxembourg citizenship through naturalisation:

 * At least 18 years old.
 * At least 5 years of legal residence in Luxembourg, including an uninterrupted period of one year immediately before applying for citizenship.
 * Passing a Luxembourgish language exam.
 * Taking a course on "Living together in the Grand Duchy" and passing the associated examination.
 * Never having been handed an immediate custodial sentence of 12 months or more or a suspended custodial sentence of 24 months or more, in any country.

Malaysia
Naturalisation in Malaysia is guided by the 1964 Malaysian Constitution. According to the law, those who want to be the country citizen should live in the country for a period of 10–12 years. The would-be-citizens are required to speak the Malay language as well submitting the identity cards of two Malaysians who recommend the applicant for citizenship. As the Government of Malaysia does not recognise dual citizenship, those who seek naturalisation are needed to reside permanently in the country and renouncing their former country citizenship.

The requirements are as follows:
 * The applicant shall appear before the Registrar of Citizenship when submitting the application.
 * The applicant must be aged 21 years and above on the date of the application.
 * The applicant has resided in the federation for a period of not less than 10 years in a period of 12 years, including the 12 months immediately preceding the date of application.
 * The applicant intends to reside permanently in the federation.
 * The applicant is of good character.
 * The applicant has adequate knowledge of the Malay language.
 * The applicant must be sponsored by two referees who are citizens aged 21 years and above and who are not relatives, not hired people, and not advocates or solicitors to the applicant.
 * Form C must be completed and submitted together with copies of the necessary documents.

The Article 16 of 1957 Malaysian Constitution also stated a similar condition previously.

Philippines
Commonwealth Act No. 473, the Revised Naturalization Law, approved June 17, 1939, provided that people having certain specified qualifications may become a citizen of the Philippines by naturalization. Republic Act No. 9139, approved June 8, 2001, provided that aliens under the age of 18 who were born in the Philippines, who have resided in the Philippines since birth, and who possess other specified qualifications may be granted Philippines citizenship by administrative proceeding subject to certain requirements.

Russia
Naturalization in Russia is guided by articles 13 and 14 of the federal law "About Citizenship of Russian Federation" passed on May 31, 2002. Citizenship of Russia can be obtained in general or simplified order. To become a citizen in general order, one must be 18 years of age or older, continuously live in Russia as a permanent resident for at least five years (this term is limited to one year for valued specialists, political asylum seekers and refugees), have legal means of existence, promise to obey the laws and Constitution of Russia and be fluent in the Russian language.

There is also a possibility to naturalize in a simplified order, in which certain requirements will be waived. Eligible for that are people, at least one parent of whom is a Russian citizen living on Russian territory; people, who lived on the territories of the former Soviet republics but never obtained citizenships of those nations after they gained independence; people, who were born on the territory of RSFSR and formerly held Soviet citizenship; people married to Russian citizens for at least 3 years; people, who served in Russian Armed Forces under contract for at least 3 years; parents of mentally incapacitated children over 18 who are Russian citizens; participants of the State Program for Assisting Compatriots Residing Abroad; and some other categories.

Spain
People who fulfill all of the following criteria can obtain Spanish citizenship through naturalisation
 * At least 10 years' residence in Spain. This period is reduced to 5 years for people who have obtained refugee status; 2 year for nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal or persons of Sephardic origin; 1 years for spouses, widows, widowers, people born in Spain or by a Spanish mother or father.
 * Sufficient command of the Spanish language and culture;
 * Declaring allegiance to the Spanish Constitution;
 * No serious criminal convictions.

People who naturalise as Spanish citizens must usually give up their previous nationality, as Spanish law takes a restrictive approach to multiple citizenship.

South Africa
Chapter 2 of the South African Citizenship Act, enacted on October 6, 1995, defines who is considered a naturalized citizen at the time of the act and also outlines the naturalization process for future immigrants.

Any person who immediately prior to the commencement of the act had been a South African citizen via naturalization, had been deemed to be a South African citizen by registration, or had been a citizen via naturalization of any of the former states now composing South Africa is now considered to be a naturalized citizen of South Africa.

Those wishing to apply for naturalization in the future must apply to the Minister of Home Affairs and must meet a slew of requirements. First, naturalization applicants must be over the age of 18 and must have been a permanent resident of South Africa for five years prior to application (prior to 2010, the permanent residence requirement was one year prior to application and for four out of the eight years prior to application). Applicants must also demonstrate good character and knowledge of the basic responsibilities and privileges of a South African citizen. The ability to communicate in one of the official languages of South Africa is also required. Applicants must show the intention to reside in South Africa after naturalization, and they are required to make a declaration of allegiance. The Constitution of South Africa states that national legislation must provide for the acquisition, loss and restoration of citizenship.

Being a naturalized South African citizen is a privilege, not a right. Even after meeting all the requirements and going through the naturalization process, the minister holds the right to deny citizenship. Foreign spouses of South African citizens can apply for naturalization after two years of marriage, but is subject to potential denial of the minister. The minister can also grant citizenship to minors, if their parent applies for them.

The minister also holds the power to revoke naturalization at any time for specific reasons listed in the Act. Reasons for revoking the naturalization certificate include marrying someone who is a citizen of another country and holding citizenship in another country, or applying for citizenship of another country without prior authorization for retention of citizenship. If a permanent resident is denied naturalization, he or she must wait at least one year before reapplying.

United Kingdom
There has always been a distinction in the law of England and Wales between the subjects of the monarch and aliens: the monarch's subjects owed the monarch allegiance, and included those born in his or her dominions (natural-born subjects) and those who later gave him or her their allegiance (naturalised subjects). Today, the requirements for naturalisation as a citizen of the United Kingdom depend on whether or not one is the spouse or civil partner of a citizen. An applicant who is a spouse or civil partner of a British citizen must:
 * hold indefinite leave to remain in the UK (or an equivalent such as Right of Abode or Irish citizenship)
 * have lived legally in the UK for three years
 * been outside of the UK no more than 90 days during the one-year period prior to filing the application.
 * show sufficient knowledge of life in the UK, either by passing the Life in the United Kingdom test or by attending combined English language and citizenship classes. Proof of this must be supplied with one's application for naturalisation. Those aged 65 or over may be able to claim exemption.
 * meet specified English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic language competence standards.

For those not married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen, the requirements are:
 * Five years legal residence in the UK
 * Indefinite leave to remain or "equivalent" for this purpose (see above) must have been held for 12 months
 * the applicant must intend to continue to live in the UK or work overseas for the UK government or a British corporation or association
 * the same "good character" standards apply as for those married to British citizens
 * the same language and knowledge of life in the UK standards apply as for those married to British citizens.

United States
Persons who are not US citizens may receive citizenship through the process of naturalization, following the Congressional requirements in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Naturalized citizens have the same rights as those who acquired citizenship at birth.

The INA states the following:"No person, except as otherwise provided in this subchapter, shall be naturalized unless such applicant, (1) immediately preceding the date of filing his application for naturalization has resided continuously, after being lawfully admitted for permanent residence, within the United States for at least five years and during the five years immediately preceding the date of filing his application has been physically present therein for periods totaling at least half of that time, and who has resided within the State or within the district of the Service in the United States in which the applicant filed the application for at least three months, (2) has resided continuously within the United States from the date of the application up to the time of admission to citizenship, and (3) during all the periods referred to in this subsection has been and still is a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States."

The Naturalization Act of 1795 set the initial rules on naturalization: "free, White persons" who had been resident for five years or more. An 1862 law allowed honorably discharged Army veterans of any war to petition for naturalization after only one year of residence in the United States. An 1894 law extended the same privilege to honorably discharged five-year veterans of the Navy or Marine Corps. Laws enacted in 1919, 1926, 1940, and 1952 continued preferential treatment provisions for veterans.

Following the Spanish–American War in 1898, Philippine citizens were classified as US nationals, and the 1917 Jones–Shafroth Act granted US citizenship to natives of Puerto Rico. But the 1934 Tydings–McDuffie Act reclassified Filipinos as aliens, and set a quota of 50 immigrants per year, and otherwise applying the Immigration Act of 1924 to them.

The Magnuson Act repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act. During the 1940s, 100 annual immigrants from British India and the Philippines were allowed. The War Brides Act of 1945 permitted soldiers to bring back their foreign wives and established precedent in naturalization through marriage. The Immigration Act of 1965 finally allowed people from all nations to be given equal access to immigration and naturalization.

Illegal immigration became a major issue in the United States at the end of the 20th century. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, while tightening border controls, also provided the opportunity of naturalization for illegal aliens who had been in the country for at least four years. Today, lawful permanent residents of the United States are eligible to apply for US citizenship after five years, unless they continue to be married to a US citizen, in which case they can apply after only three years of permanent residency.

The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 streamlined the naturalization process for children adopted internationally. A child under age 18 who is adopted by at least one US citizen parent, and is in the custody of the citizen parent(s), is now automatically naturalized once admitted to the United States as an immigrant or when legally adopted in the United States, depending on the visa under which the child was admitted to the United States. The Act also provides that the non-citizen minor child of a newly naturalized US citizen, whether by birth or adoption, also automatically receives US citizenship.

Mass naturalizations
A few rare mass naturalization processes have been implemented by nation states. In 1891, Brazil granted naturalization to all aliens living in the country. In 1922, Greece massively naturalized all the Greek refugees coming from Turkey. The second massive naturalization process was in favor of Armenian refugees coming from Turkey, who went to Syria, Lebanon or other former Ottoman countries. Reciprocally, Turkey massively naturalized the refugees of Turkish descent or other ethnic backgrounds in Muslim creed from these countries during a redemption process.

Canada instituted a mass naturalization by Act of Parliament with the enactment of the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946.

After annexation of the territories east of the Curzon line by the Soviet Union in 1945, Soviets naturalized en masse all the inhabitants of those territories—including ethnic Poles, as well as its other citizens who had been deported into the Soviet Union, mainly to Kazakhstan. Those people were forcibly naturalized as Soviet citizens. Later on, Germany granted to the ethnic German population in Russia and Kazakhstan full citizenship rights. Poland has a limited repatriation program in place.

In the late 1970s, President Ferdinand Marcos facilitated the mass naturalization of ethnic Chinese in the Philippines.

The most recent massive naturalization case resulted from the Argentine economic crisis in the beginning of the 21st century. Existing or slightly updated right of return laws in Spain and Italy allowed many of their diasporic descendants to obtain—in many cases to regain—naturalization in virtue of jus sanguinis, as in the Greek case. Hence, many Argentines acquired European nationality.

Since the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution grants citizenship only to those "born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof", and the original United States Constitution only grants Congress the power of naturalization, it could be argued that all acts of Congress that expand the right of citizenship are cases of mass naturalization. This includes the acts that extended U.S. citizenship to citizens of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 which made all Native Americans citizens (most of them were previously excluded under the "jurisdiction" clause of the 14th Amendment).

In the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, mass naturalisation also happened during the administration of United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) and Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA's) Muslim-dominated political parties to increase the Muslim population in the territory by naturalising immigrants and refugees from the mainly-Muslim dominated areas of Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago of the Philippines and Sulawesi of Indonesia.

In occupied territories
The mass naturalization of native people in occupied territories is illegal under the laws of war (Hague and Geneva Conventions). However, there have been many instances of such illegal mass naturalizations in the 20th century.

title: Naturalization