Citizenship Identity And Immigration In The European Union

European citizenship, identity and immigration are constitutive issues facing the European polity and have important consequences for domestic political systems. Blends normative political theory with European integration and develops an original theoretical framework for European Union citizenship, identity and immigration as well as a set of policy proposals for institutional reform. Challenges the conventionally held views in these areas, by arguing that a model of European citizenship and identity is vital to the construction of a democratic, heterogeneous and inclusive European polity. Crosses the boundaries of political science, law and philosophy.

From international press coverage of the French government’s attempt to prevent Muslims from wearing headscarves to terrorist attacks in Madrid and the United States, questions of cultural identity and pluralism are at the center of the world’s most urgent events and debates. Presenting an unprecedented wealth of empirical research garnered during ten years of a cross-cultural project, Contested Citizenship addresses these fundamental issues by comparing collective actions by migrants, xenophobes, and antiracists in Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Revealing striking cross-national differences in how immigration and diversity are contended by different national governments, these authors find that how citizenship is constructed is the key variable defining the experience of Europe’s immigrant populations. Contested Citizenship provides nuanced policy recommendations and challenges the truism that multiculturalism is always good for immigrants. Even in an age of European integration and globalization, the state remains a critical actor in determining what points of view are sensible and realistic—and legitimate—in society. Ruud Koopmans is professor of sociology at Free University, Amsterdam. Paul Statham is reader in political communications at the University of Leeds. Marco Giugni is a researcher and teacher of political science at the University of Geneva. Florence Passy is assistant professor of political science at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

The individual has become visible throughout Europe and within its institutions as a potential or actual rights holder. He or she is no longer defined as visible or invisible in law by the nation state alone. In today's Europe, he or she establishes identity'that is, the rights to entry, residence, work, family life, and protection from expulsion'through a multilayered legal structure involving the nation state, the EU, and the Council of Europe and all their political, administrative, and judicial arenas. In this remarkable study Elspeth Guild examines the ways in which law in Europe defines the status of the individual and his or her entitlements as regards identity. Among her enlightening approaches to this complex subject the following may be listed: the right to move across borders;the limitations of citizenship of the Union as currently construed;social benefits of citizenship;residence; immigration;family reunification;human rights of foreigners;asylum;expulsion and readmission;racial discrimination; andlong-resident third-country nationals. The analysis includes extensive reference to relevant cases, especially European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights decisions. This is a work of great value and insight. As more and more legislation is adopted in the area of European citizenship, courts will increasingly be called upon to articulate the relationship of individuals to the territory and society in which they find themselves. And as this inevitable development is defined, all jurists and legal academics who care for civil society in Europe will discover this deeply considered book afresh.

On a few paradigms

Throughout Europe longstanding ideas of what it means to be a citizen are being challenged. The sense of belonging to a nation has never been more in flux. Simultaneously, nationalistic and racist movements are gaining ground and barriers are being erected against immigration. This volume examines how concepts of citizenship have evolved in different countries and varying contexts. It explores the interconnection between ideas of the nation, modes of citizenship and the treatment of migrants. Adopting a multi-disciplinary and international approach, this collection brings together experts from several fields including political studies, history, law and sociology. By juxtaposing four European countries - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - and setting current trends against a historical background, it highlights important differences and exposes similarities in the urgent questions surrounding citizenship and the treatment of minorities in Europe today.

Published in 1999. Issues of citizenship and identity have rapidly moved up the European and social science agendas in recent years. This book explores the reason for this. It focuses on the dilemmas of citizenship and identify in the uncertain and unpredictable atmosphere of fin de siècle Europe. In the course of eight essays, it explores the general theoretical issues of citizenship and identity – and the relationship between these – in contemporary Europe; the various aspects of European Union citizenship (two chapters); democracy and multiculturalism in Western Europe; pluralism and citizenship, with particular reference to gender in West European politics; the various implications for gender politics of divorce in Western Europe; exclusion and inclusion in central and Eastern Europe; and the extent to which the idea of a Yugoslav national identity has been a failure. Citizenship and Identity in Europe will appeal both to informed generalists and to students and scholars of Europe who seek analyses of these issues in Eastern, central and Western Europe from a wide range of perspectives. At a time when the future of Europe is looking more uncertain than it has for decades, this book is both timely and thought-provoking.

This book maps out, from a variety of theoretical standpoints, the challenges generated by European integration and EU citizenship for community membership, belonging and polity-making beyond the state. It does so by focusing on three main issues of relevance for how EU citizenship has developed and its capacity to challenge state sovereignty and authority as the main loci of creating and delivering rights and protection. First, it looks at the relationship between citizenship of the Union and European identity and assesses how immigration and access to nationality in the Member States impact on the development of a common European identity. Secondly, it discusses how the idea of solidarity interacts with the boundaries of EU citizenship as constructed by the entitlement and capacity of mobile citizens to enjoy equality and social rights as EU citizens. Thirdly, the book engages with issues of EU citizenship and equality as the building blocks of the EU project. By engaging with these themes, this volume provides a topical and comprehensive account of the present and future development of Union citizenship and studies the collisions between the realisation of its constructive potential and Member State autonomy.

This title was first published in 2002. This study, undertaken with the support of the Ford Foundation under the scientific leadership of Khadija Mohsen-Finan, Remy Leveau and Catherine Wihtol de Wenden considers the new forms of citizenship and identity that have emerged within the settlements of immigrant populations in various countries in Europe. Through their claims to citizenship, shifting religious identities and by occupying the high ground both locally and at European level, these communities challenge long standing citizenship models and give full meaning to the concepts of supranational European citizenship. The contributors question whether such European citizenship will include all residents of Europe or whether it will serve to increase the exclusion felt by certain groups of migrants. In particular the contributors examine the implications of three emerging citizenship trends - the impact of the demand for Islam; the emergence of undocumented migrants and their inclusion in an increasingly stratified society; and finally, the rising tide of ordinary or political refugees who are challenging European citizenship on their own terms.