In politics, dual loyalty is loyalty to two separate interests that potentially conflict with each other, leading to a conflict of interest. Multiple citizenship has been considered in some countries as dual loyalty.
United States During World War II, a number of United States citizens of Japanese, German, and Italian ancestry, including some born in the U.S., were confined to internment camps (see Internment of Japanese Americans).
The loyalty of many Americans to the U.S. government was called into question during the Cold War due to alleged Communist sympathies, resulting in "witch-hunts" of various government officials, celebrities and other citizens (see McCarthyism, Lavender Scare).
"Dual loyalty" continues to be a concern of critics of US immigration policy, particularly in those states which border Mexico.Linda Chavez, "Mexican law to challenge loyalties ," Abilene Texas News, April 8, 1998.
During the impeachment of Donald Trump in 2020, some Republican Members of Congress accused Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Vindman of dual loyalty towards Ukraine due to his Ukrainian heritage.
Religious groups
Catholics Roman Catholics are subject to the Pope on religious matters. This has often perceived as dual loyalty by powers opposed to the Holy See.
During the English Reformation, many important English and Scottish Catholics, such as Thomas More, Mary, Queen of Scots and Edmund Campion, were tried and executed for their alleged double loyalty to the Papacy and infidelity to the Crown.
During John F. Kennedy's campaign for and tenure as U.S. President, some opponents questioned whether a Roman Catholic President of the United States had a divided loyalty with respect to the Papacy and Vatican City.
Chinese Catholics have been forced by the government of the People's Republic of China of substituting the Roman Catholic Church in China by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.
Jews
Jews who were part of the Jewish diaspora have been accused of dual loyalty by the Romans in the 1st century, by the French in the Dreyfus Affair in the late 19th century, and in Stalin-era Soviet Union in the 20th century.Leonard P. Zakim, Janice Ditchek, Confronting Anti-Semitism: a Practical Guide, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., p. 26, 2000 , 9780881256291 Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis argued that American Jews could be fully loyal to both the United States and Zionism, contending that Jewish values were fundamentally compatible with American democratic ideals.Kaplow, Michael. "Judaism, Zionism, and the Promises of America." Sources Journal. Summer 2025. 23 July 2026. Before the creation of Israel, anti-Zionist British Jews used the accusation against Zionist Jews in the UK.Rory Miller, Divided Against Zion: Anti-Zionist Opposition in Britain to a Jewish State in Palestine, 1945–1948, Routledge, pp. 129–135, 2000 , 9780714650517 While today some use the phrase in a "neutral and non-pejorative fashion," John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt say this use can obscure the fact that home nations and Israel may have sharp political differences.John J. Mearsheimer, Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, pp. 146–149, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
The 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq lead to such accusations against Jewish neoconservatives, vocal proponents of war against Iraq who were alleged by some critics of the Iraq War to have sought to undermine Arab nations hostile to Israel (e.g., by the term "Israel-firster").Dore Gold, Blaming Israel for the Iraq War, Institute for Contemporary Affairs, Jerusalem Issue Brief, Vol. 3, No. 25 3 June 2004.
US president Donald Trump said in 2019 that that Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats were showing "either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty" towards Israel. ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt responded that charges of disloyalty “have long been used to attack Jews" and "It’s long overdue to stop using Jews as a political football." In 2025 Trump attacked Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, stating "As far as I'm concerned, he's become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He's not Jewish any more. He's a Palestinian." Trump's remarks were condemned by rights groups as antisemitic and anti-Palestinian.
Muslims Muslims living in Western countries, especially during periods of heightened tensions between Muslim minorities and non-Muslims, such as after September 11, 2001, or during the Jyllands-Posten cartoons controversy of 2005–2006, are sometimes accused of being more loyal to the Muslim ummah than to their country.Postscript 9/11 Media Coverage of Terrorism and Immigration , Center for Immigration Studies, April 2003.
The Ahmadiyya movement in Islam has been accused by some Muslims of dual loyalty to the state of Israel, or less frequently the Hindu-majority state of India.
Hindus Hindu minority in Bangladesh is often accused by the Islamists and right-wing nationalists like the Bangladesh Nationalist Party,Bangladesh slammed for persecution of Hindus, Rediff.com and even by Sheikh Hasina of the nominally secular Awami League,A Bleak Future for Bangladesh Hindu's , hinduismtoday.comThe Hindu Minority in Bangladesh: Legally Identified Enemies, Human Rights Documentation Centre for having dual loyalty towards neighbouring Hindu-majority India, which is linked to the anti-India sentiment in the country.
Baháʼís The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has accused the Baháʼí Faith minority of having loyalty to foreign powers (see Iranian anti-Baháʼí conspiracy theories).
Transnationalist interpretations Some scholars refer to a growing trend of transnationalism and suggest that as societies become more heterogeneous and multicultural, the term "dual loyalty" had increasingly become a meaningless bromide. According to the theory of transnationalism, migration and other factors, including improved global communication, produce new forms of identity that transcend traditional notions of physical and cultural space. Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch, and Cristina Blanc-Szanton define a process by which immigrants "link together" their country of origin and their country of settlement.
The transnationalist view is that "dual loyalty" is a potentially-positive expression of multi-culturalism and can contribute to the diversity and strength of civil society. That view is popular in many academic circles, but others are skeptical of the idea. As one paper describes it,
Beyond its usage in particular instances, the terms "dual loyalty" and "transnationalism" continue to be the subject of much debate. As one academic wrote:
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