Naturalisation, Desert, and the Symbolic Meaning of Citizenship

Abstract

This chapter is about specific kinds of naturalisation rules and practices regulating access to citizenship for immigrants, especially those requiring applicants for naturalisation to pass tests of their language proficiency and knowledge of society. Such naturalisation tests have been introduced in many Western countries during the last dec-ade. In this chapter I discuss how one might understand such naturali-sation requirements as expressions of what I call a ‘desert paradigm’. I propose and defend two theses: First, given that what I call the ‘symbolic meaning’ of citizenship is partly constituted by requirements regulating access to citizenship, citizenship will have different meanings for native born and naturalised citizens. Second, the desert paradigm of naturalisation exacerbates this difference in meaning in ways that are both avoidable and potentially problematic. This problem is different from a number of other problems with naturalisation practices that have received a great deal of attention in the theoretical literature. I will therefore start by sketching the theoretical terrain for discussions of access to citizenship in order to distinguish the problem I am con-cerned with from other criticisms of naturalisation practices.

Thanks for comments to Arash Abizadeh, Angharad Beckett, Ludvig Beckman, Alison Brysk, Camilla Nordberg, Thomas Søbirk Petersen, Andy Mason, Jouni Reinikainen, Hans-Ingvar Roth, Jesper Ryberg, Inge Schiermacher, and Anna Yeatman.