Citizenship | nccr – on the move

The ‘Migranticisation’ of EU Free Movement: Analysing the Policies to Control Intra-EU Migration in Germany and the UK

Lucas Oesch — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 09:38:02 +0000

Theoretically, this article proposes that concerns of ‘welfare migration’ have shaped the EU free movement regime as a system of differential rights. This system was institutionalised in Directive 2004/38 in the context of Eastern Enlargements, and it gives different residence and social rights to EU citizens depending on their socioeconomic status. Whereas workers have unquestioned residence rights and can have access to various contributory and non-contributory social benefits, economically inactive citizens are excluded from welfare benefits and must prove they have sufficient resources to obtain the right to reside.

The article further suggests that these provisions sought to provide member states with tools to control ‘unwanted’ migration, which in this article refers to the ‘poor’. Directive 2004/38 enables member states to use two policies to control intra-EU migration: welfare exclusion and the control of residence rights. Empirically, the article investigates the implementation of these two policies in Germany and the UK. It finds that the implementation of these policies has led to a ‘migranticisation’ of the EU free movement regime. Whereas workers are seen as free movers, economically inactive citizens are seen as migrants that need to prove their right to reside. However, the article also finds fundamental differences between the cases. The UK’s long tradition of Euroscepticism led to Brexit and to the de facto transformation of all EU citizens into migrants. In contrast, countries with a strong European identity and robust social values entrenched in national law, such as Germany, are less likely to experience a radical turn to the ‘migranticisation’ of EU free movement.

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How and Why Do Intentions to Naturalize Evolve over Time?

Nora Bardelli — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 15:07:39 +0000

While much of the literature focuses on the factors influencing naturalization outcomes, far less studies have investigated the will to acquire new citizenship. However, unlike naturalization, which, once acquired, is a fixed status, intention is subject to change, evolve, or be translated into action. Thus, studying the evolution of naturalization intentions provides a first overview of the interest and renunciation factors involved in acquiring a new passport. With nearly 25% of its resident population not holding citizenship and having one of Western Europe’s most restrictive nationality policies, Switzerland constitutes a relevant case for studying this phenomenon. This article draws on Swiss panel data (N = 1274) to identify, through different logistic regression models, the drivers of 1) a change in personal preferences and 2) the realization of a stated intention to acquire a new citizenship. The results indicate that socioeconomic characteristics and intimate ties with the host society are associated with the realization of naturalization aspirations, while the country of origin and immigrants’ relationships and experiences with the host society are important in explaining favorable changes of minds toward naturalization.

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To Go or Not to Go: Unpacking Mobility Decisions in Mumbai During the COVID-19 Lockdown of 2020

Annique Lombard — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 17:30:54 +0000

The hastily announced lockdown in March 2020 by the Indian government precipitated a wave of uncertainty and fear among urban residents living in auto-constructed settlements. In subsequent weeks, images poured in of people undertaking arduous journeys across hundreds of miles to try and get back to their native villages – a process that was dubbed the ‘migrant crisis’ by the mainstream media. This coinage, however, hides a number of differences in the positionality of city residents in terms of housing, employment, access to credit, political clientelism and family structure, factors which are themselves circumscribed by caste, religion, gender and ethnicity. Drawing on qualitative research in two separate field sites within Mumbai, this paper seeks to provide insight into the way choices on staying, leaving and returning to the city were made by various informal workers at the individual, family and community levels. While offering a chronological account of how the lockdown unfolded in the city, it makes three central observations. First, the status and relationship between landlord and tenant within the autoconstructed settlement was a key axis along which migratory decisions were negotiated. Second, the unforeseen gendered fallouts of punitive state action structured certain people’s desperation to leave. Finally, the collective psychology of fear and safety worked more along the lines of caste, religion and ethnic community rather than friends and neighbors. Taken together, these insights aim to emphasize the need for more granular categories and new vocabularies to understand the evolving relationship between mobility, social structures and precarious forms of urban labor.

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SWISSCIT Index on Citizenship Law in Swiss Cantons: Conceptualisation, Measurement, Aggregation

Markus Läubli — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:26:21 +0000

In the Swiss federal context, the acquisition of citizenship through ordinary naturalization, the enjoyment of electoral rights as a foreign resident, and the retention of the franchise as a Swiss citizen abroad is not uniformly defined through a single federal law but co-determined by the cantons. In this explanatory note, we introduce SWISSCIT, a set of indicators measuring how inclusive cantonal citizenship policies are through a systematic comparison of the legislation in force as of 31 December 2017 in the 26 cantons. The dataset comprises three separate aggregated indicators, measuring the legislation on 1) ordinary naturalization of foreign residents; 2) the right to vote and stand as candidate of foreign residents in local and cantonal elections; and 3) the right to vote and stand as candidate of Swiss citizens abroad in their municipality and canton of origin. The note successively discusses issues of conceptualization, measurement and aggregation. By making our methodology fully transparent, we follow what has become common practice in index-building and hope to encourage users to make use of our data in their own research.

Access the SWISSCIT indicators here

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Fast-Tracking Full Citizenship in the Context of the Swiss Integration Stage Model

Markus Läubli — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 15:29:27 +0000

In 2014, the Federal Assembly adopted the new Swiss Citizenship Act, which will enter into force on the 1st of January 2018. One of the missions of this Act is to align the pre-conditions for Swiss Citizenship with the Swiss integration stage model, a controversial move by the Federal Assembly that tightens the rules for access to citizenship and consequently narrows the space of cantonal policy. Under the new rule, only permanent residents (C-permit holders) would be entitled to Swiss citizenship. Consequently, the examination of the integration achievements of all foreigners who wish to naturalize in Switzerland has been intensified in an “ex ante” optic, due to the prerequisite of the C-permit. As the requirement of the early grant of the C-permit falls within the jurisdiction of the 26 cantons, the new rule will hardly obtain the desired result of harmonizing the path to Swiss citizenship. With reference to the two keywords of Swiss integration policy, requiring and promoting, which state the requirements and individual responsibilities of a foreign person with regard to integration and the promotion of equal opportunities, this article gives a first impression of the cantonal requirements for obtaining the C-permit in the case of successful integration. Further, it gives an overview of integration promotion factors, such as the right to a long-term stay, political rights, and the right to family reunification, all of which are connected to the legal status of the C-permit and can determine the extent to which the path to citizenship remains open. It critically assesses the division of competence – national/cantonal – in the framework of integration policy and citizenship rights, concluding that the attempted “uploading” of the issue has resulted in strengthening rather than weakening the cantonal layer of citizenship governance.

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