Full membership or equal rights? The link between naturalisation and integration policies for immigrants in 29 European states

Abstract

Traditionally, there are two contrasting views on the way states can use naturalisation and immigrants’ rights policies to set out their broader agenda of immigrant integration. First, citizenship acquisition can be seen as complementary to the granting of social and political rights to immigrants, as a necessary step in the process of full integration in the political community. Whereas granting access to formal membership through naturalisation may instead be seen as an alternative to granting social and political rights, independent of citizenship status. In this paper, we analyse the relation between naturalisation and integration policies in 29 European states, looking at immigrants’ rights in several areas of public life, such as political participation, anti-discrimination, education, the labour market and family reunion. We find strong empirical evidence in Europe that extending membership and rights are generally used as complementary, rather than alternative, means to immigrant integration. While our analysis does not invalidate the ‘alternative’ view as a normative stance, it does suggest that it comes with political constraints as, in practice, it is rarely practiced in Europe.

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