How do states in Western Europe deal with the challenges of migration for citizenship? The legal relationship between a person and a state is becoming increasingly blurred in our mobile, transnational world. This volume deals with the membership dimension of citizenship, specifically the formal rules that states use to attribute citizenship. These nationally-specific rules determine how and under what conditions citizenship is attributed by states to individuals: how one can acquire formal citizenship status, but also how this status can be lost. Migration and Citizenship Attribution observes various trends in citizenship policies since the early 1980s, analysing historical patterns and recent changes across Western Europe as well as examining specific developments in individual countries. Authors explore the equal treatment of women and men with regard to descent-based citizenship attribution, along with the process of convergence between countries with ‘ius soli’ and ‘ius sanguinis’ traditions with regard to birthright provisions. They consider how the increasing acceptance of multiple citizenship is reflected in a dual trend to abolish, or at least to moderate, the renunciation of the citizenship of origin as a condition for naturalisation, and also to restrict provisions of loss of citizenship due to voluntary acquisition of a foreign citizenship. Another trend observed and discussed is the introduction by many countries of language tests and integration conditions in the naturalisation procedure, with some countries now concluding the naturalisation process by means of a US-styled citizenship ceremony. Contributors also explore the various things taken into account under state citizenship laws such as statelessness, or membership of the European Union. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

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Switzerland likely has the most particular naturalization system in the world. Whereas in most countries citizenship attribution is regulated at the central level of the state, in Switzerland each municipality is accorded the right to decide who can become a Swiss citizen. This book aims at exploring naturalization processes from a comparative perspective and to explain why some municipalities pursue more restrictive citizenship policies than others. The Swiss case provides a unique opportunity to approach citizenship politics from new perspectives. It allows us to go beyond formal citizenship models and to account for the practice of citizenship. The analytical framework combines quantitative and qualitative data and helps us understand how negotiation processes between political actors lead to a large variety of local citizenship models. An innovative theoretical framework, integrating Bourdieu's political sociology, combines symbolic and material aspects of naturalizations and underlines the production processes of ethnicity.

This was previously published as a special issue of Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies. How do states in Western Europe deal with the challenges of migration for citizenship? The legal relationship between a person and a state becomes increasingly blurred in a mobile and transnational world. This volume deals with the membership dimension of citizenship and specifically with the formal rules that states use to attribute citizenship. These nationally specific rules determine how and under which conditions citizenship is attributed by states to individuals: how one can acquire formal citizenship status, but also how it can be lost. We observe six trends in citizenship policies since the early 1980s. First, we observe a trend toward completing the equal treatment of women and men with regard to descent-based citizenship attribution. Second, there is a process of convergence between countries with ius soli and ius sanguinis traditions with regard to birthright provisions. Third, the increasing acceptance of multiple citizenship is reflected in a dual trend to abolish or moderate the renunciation of the citizenship of origin as a condition for naturalisation and also to abolish or restrict provisions of loss of citizenship due to voluntary acquisition of a foreign citizenship. Fourth, many countries have introduced language tests and integration conditions in the naturalisation procedure and some countries are now also concluding the naturalisation process by means of a US-styled citizenship ceremony. Fifth, states increasingly take the principle of avoiding statelessness into account into their citizenship laws. Finally, we see that states start to take membership of the European Union into account in their citizenship laws. Chapters in this volume discuss both these broad trends across Western Europe, analyzing historical patterns and recent change, as well as specific developments in individual countries.

"Citizenship Policies in the New Europe describes the citizenship laws in each of the twelve new countries as well as in the accession states Croatia and Turkey and analyses their historical background. Citizenship Policies in the New Europe complements two volumes on Acquisition and Loss of Nationality in the fifteen old Member States published in the same series in 2006." --Book Jacket.

In an increasingly mobile world with mounting concerns about the states' control of borders and migration, passports and citizenship rights matter more than ever. This book asks what citizenship ceremonies can tell us about how citizenship is understood through empirical research in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Ireland.

Nationality law in Britain is liberal and expansive in making it possible for immigrants to become citizens. Nonetheless, long-term residents, who are educated and possess skills that are important for the British economy, still face significant barriers to citizenship. This book offers insights into the experiences of long-term residents who have successfully become British citizens, through their own stories and newly commissioned illustrations of the journey of immigration. The goal is to explain the gap between formal law and law in practice, but the focus of the book is not solely on barriers--Devyani Prabhat also explores the feelings of belonging and empowerment that people experience during the citizenship journey.