Historical Overview: Patterns of Immigration, Immigration and Citizenship Policies

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical overview of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain. It is structured around three themes in order to provide a consistent country by country overview of the development within these areas. First, the chapter discusses migrant composition, types of migration and describes the main migrant groups residing in the five countries. Here, it is made clear that different migration histories have prompted different types of responses to large-scale migration in the postwar era. Second, the chapter covers developments in immigration and integration policy and how these have affected the status of migrants. Third, the chapter discusses developments and changes with regard to formal citizenship criteria. Despite having a number of differences among the five countries, they all share a similar feature: immigration and citizenship appear to be working in tandem. That is, restrictive measures introduced in one area (e.g. making immigration more difficult for non-EU nationals) is reflected in similar changes in the other (e.g. more exclusive citizenship legislation and notions of belonging) and vice versa. All five cases display similar developments even though they have different interpretations of citizenship, principles for naturalisation and different patterns of immigration.