  The problem of a spherically symmetric charged thin shell of dust collapsing
gravitationally into a charged Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole in $d$ spacetime
dimensions is studied within the theory of general relativity. Static charged
shells in such a background are also analyzed. First a derivation of the
equation of motion of such a shell in a $d$-dimensional spacetime is given.
Then a proof of the cosmic censorship conjecture in a charged collapsing
framework is presented, and a useful constraint which leads to an upper bound
for the rest mass of a charged shell with an empty interior is derived. It is
also proved that a shell with total mass equal to charge, i.e., an extremal
shell, in an empty interior, can only stay in neutral equilibrium outside its
gravitational radius. This implies that it is not possible to generate a
regular extremal black hole by placing an extremal dust thin shell within its
own gravitational radius. Moreover, it is shown, for an empty interior, that
the rest mass of the shell is limited from above. Then several types of
behavior of oscillatory charged shells are studied. In the presence of a
horizon, it is shown that an oscillatory shell always enters the horizon and
reemerges in a new asymptotically flat region of the extended
Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime. On the other hand, for an overcharged interior,
i.e., a shell with no horizons, an example showing that the shell can achieve a
stable equilibrium position is presented. The results presented have
applications in brane scenarios with extra large dimensions, where the creation
of tiny higher dimensional charged black holes in current particle accelerators
might be a real possibility, and generalize to higher dimensions previous
calculations on the dynamics of charged shells in four dimensions.
