Migration Citizenship And Ethno National Identities In The European Union

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.

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.

This book challenges mainstream arguments about the de-ethnicization of citizenship in Europe, offering a critical discussion of normative justifications for ethno-cultural citizenship and an original elaboration of principles of membership suitable for contemporary liberal democratic states.

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.

Greater mobility and migration have brought about unprecedented levels of diversity that are transforming communities across the Atlantic in fundamental ways, sparking uncertainty over who the "we" is in a society. As publics fear loss of their national identity and values, the need is greater than ever to reinforce the bonds that tie communities together. Yet, while a consensus may be emerging as to what has not worked well, little thought has been given to developing a new organizing principle for community cohesion. Such a vision needs to smooth divisions between immigration's "winners and losers," blunt extremism, and respond smartly to changing community and national identities. This volume will examine the lessons that can be drawn from various approaches to immigrant integration and managing diversity in North America and Europe. The book delivers recommendations on what policymakers must do to build and reinforce inclusiveness given the realities on each side of the Atlantic. It offers insights into the next generation of policies that can (re)build inclusive societies and bring immigrants and natives together in pursuit of shared futures.

This volume presents contributions related to a selection of lectures held at a series of European Summer Schools on Migration, Diversity and Identities. This European Summer School programme has been developed as part of a doctoral programme by the group Migration, Multiculturality and Ethnic Conflict within the Thematic Network Humanitarian Development Studies, HumanitarianNet. Amongst its first activities, this group conducted in 1997 a survey on existing courses and units on migration and integration among the participating universities. Based on the data generated, the group developed modules for European Summer Schools for PhD students doing their PhD research in the field of migration or integration of migrants. The Summer Schools of the programme are integral part of a European Doctoral Programme on Migration, Diversity and Identities which aims to encourage a European exposure of PhD students and to support networking among the young researchers on the European level. The European Doctoral Programme was developed by the Migration Group within HumanitarianNet in the context of the Bologna process and the TUNING project of the EU Commission according to the recommendations fo the European Conference of University Rectors. It is now linked to the new European Network of Excellence IMISCOE which assembles 19 European key research institutes on Migration Integration and Social Cohesion. The selected lectures are focusing on three major aspects for comparative research on a European level: Firstly, some theoretical and conceptual discussion on migration, diversity and identities, themes which gave the programme its very name. Secondly, on the relation between migration processes, their consequences, and the sphere of politics and policy making. Finally, —since the programme also intended to support young researchers in their PhD project— two papers on methodological problems which emerge when doing comparative research on migration at a European level.

First published in 1998, this book is about the consequences of the permanent settlement of former labour migrants in contemporary Germany and Britain and the extent to which these ‘new’ minorities are regarded as citizens in both societies as well as citizens of the European Union. It is argued that a socio-historical link between processes of racialization and nationalism lead to an exclusionary concept of citizenship in both countries. This link is concretized by the intermingling of nationality and citizenship as reflected in law and/or in the perception by civil society. Thus, the concept of citizenship can only function as a mechanism for inclusion of ethnic minorities if de-linked from nationality (i.e. ethnic descent). In addition, recent supra- and sub-national development on the EU level lead to the suggestion of a three-layered conception of citizenship (i.e. local, national, European), and it is argued that the local level is probably the most effective to resist the power of racism and nationalism.