Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:59:08.542Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Inevitable Lightening of Citizenship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2010

Christian Joppke
Christian Joppke*
Affiliation:
Université américaine de Paris, [[email protected]].
Get access

Abstract

This paper scrutinizes the paradox of the increasing objective yet diminishing subjective value of citizenship in Western states. The decreasing subjective value points to an inevitable lightening of citizenship, which persists despite states’ recent efforts to upgrade and re-nationalize citizenship by ceremony, civic integration tests, and more exclusive rights. I discuss some features of citizenship light, most notably instrumentalism and a dissociation of citizenship from nationhood. The recently court-empowered European Union citizenship serves as an illustration.

Résumé

Montée de la valeur objective de la citoyenneté dans les pays occidentaux et diminution de sa valeur subjective font paradoxe. Les États ont beau faire des efforts pour donner de la solennité à l’octroi de la citoyenneté (cérémonie de naturalisation et test d’intégration), la conclusion s’impose : la citoyenneté s’allège inévitablement. L’article analyse certains aspects de ce processus, en particulier l’instrumentalisme et la dissociation entre nationalité et citoyenneté. Le débat juridique sur la citoyenneté européenne sert d’illustration.

Zusammenfassung

Das Paradox eines objektiv steigenden aber gleichzeitig subjektiv sinkenden Werts der Staatsbürgerschaft in westlichen Staaten verdient eine genauere Untersuchung. Ihr subjektiv abnehmender Wert weist auf ein unausweichliches “Leichterwerden” der Staatsbürgerschaft hin, trotz gegenläufiger staatlicher Initiativen, den Staatsbürgerstatus aufzuwerten und zu re-nationalisieren (zum Beispiel durch symbolische Verleihungen, Einbürgerungstests und exklusivere Rechte). Ich skizziere einige Elemente der “leichten” Staatsbürgerschaft, insbesondere Instrumentalismus und eine Trennung von Staatsangehörigkeit und Nationalität. Die durch Entscheidungen des Europäischen Gerichtshofs mächtig vorangetriebene Unionsbürgerschaft dient als Illustration.

Keywords

CitizenshipImmigrationLiberalismNationalismSociology of the StateEurope and the European UnionCitoyennetéImmigrationLibéralismeNationalismeSociologie de l’ÉtatEurope et Union européenneStaatsbürgerschaftEinwanderungLiberalismusNationalismusStaatssoziologieEuropa und die europäische Union
Type
Research Articles
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , April 2010 , pp. 9 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bauböck, Rainer, 2007. “Stakeholder Citizenship and Transnational Political Participation”, Fordham Law Review, 75, pp. 2393-2447.Google Scholar
Bauböck, Rainer, 2008. “Citizens on the move”, Canadian Diversity, 6 (4), pp. 7-12.Google Scholar
Beckert, Jens, 2007. “The Long Durée of Inheritance Law”, European Journal of Sociology, 48 (1), pp. 79-120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, Mark, 2007. “Civic Citizenship and Migrant Integration”, European Public Law, 13 (2), pp. 311-333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besson, Samantha and Utzinger, Andre, 2007. “Introduction: Future Challenges of European Citizenship”, European Law Journal, 13 (5), pp. 573-590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers, 1989. “Introduction” in Brubaker, Rogers, ed., Immigration and the Politics of Citizenship in Europe and North America (Lanham, University Press of America).Google Scholar
Conant, Lisa, 2004. “Contested Boundaries: Citizens, States, and Supranational Belonging in the European Union”, in Migdal, Joel, ed., Boundaries and Belonging (New York, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Craig, Paul and de Burca, Grainne, 2008. EC Law, 4thed. (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Davies, Gareth, 2005. “Any Place I Hang my Hat”, European Law Journal, 11 (1), pp. 43-56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everson, Michelle, 1995. “The Legacy of the Market Citizen”, in Shaw, Jo and More, Gillian, eds., The New Legal Dynamics of European Union (Oxford, Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
Falk, Richard, 2000. “The Decline of Citizenship in an Era of Globalization”, Citizenship Studies, 4 (1), pp. 5-17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Favell, Adrian, 2003. “Games without Frontiers?”, typescript (on file with author), subsequently published in European Journal of Sociology, 44 (3).Google Scholar
Favell, Adrian, 2008. “Immigration, Migration and Free Movement in the Making of Europe”, in Checkel, Jeffrey and Katzenstein, Peter, eds., European Identity (New York, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Ferrera, Maurizio, 2005. The Boundaries of Welfare (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garland, David, 2001. The Culture of Control (Chicago, University of Chicago Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, Neil, 2002. Transformation of the Welfare State (New York, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giubboni, Stefano, 2007. “Free Movement of Persons and European Solidarity”, European Law Journal, 13 (3), pp. 360-379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldsmith, Lord, 2008. Citizenship: Our Common Bond (London, HM Printing Office).Google Scholar
Goodhart, David, 2006. Progressive Nationalism: Citizenship and the Left (London, Demos).Google Scholar
Hailbronner, Kay, 2005. “Union Citizenship and Access to Social Benefits”, Common Market Law Review, 42, pp. 1245-1267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, Randall, 2009. “The Poverty of Postnationalism”, Theory and Society, 38 (1), pp. 1-24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Home Office, (UK), 2008a. The Path to Citizenship: Next Steps in Reforming the Immigration System, February (London, HM Printing Office).Google Scholar
Home Office, (UK), 2008b. The Path to Citizenship: Government Response to Consultation, July (London, HM Printing Office).Google Scholar
Ignatieff, Michael, 2003. Empire Lite (Harmondsworth, Penguin).Google Scholar
Isin, Engin and Turner, Bryan, eds., 2002. Handbook of Citizenship Studies (London, Sage).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janowitz, Morris, 1978. The Last Half-Century (Chicago, University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Janowitz, Morris, 1980. “Observations on the Sociology of Citizenship”, Social Forces 59 (1), pp. 1-24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joppke, Christian, 2003. “Citizenship between De- and Re-Ethnicization”, Archives européennes de sociologie, 44 (3), pp. 429-458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joppke, Christian, 2007. “Transformation of Citizenship: Status, Rights, Identity”, Citizenship Studies 11 (1), pp. 37-48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joppke, Christian, 2008a. “Immigration and the Identity of Citizenship”, Citizenship Studies, 12 (6), pp. 533-546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joppke, Christian, 2008b. “Comparative Citizenship: A Restrictive Turn in Europe?” Journal of Law and Ethics of Human Rights, 2, pp. 1-41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michalowski, Ines, 2009. Citizenship Tests in Five Countries – An Expression of Political Liberalism?, Discussion paper (SP IV 2009-702), Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin.Google Scholar
O’Leary, Siofra, 1993. The Evolving Concept of Community Citizenship, Doctoral dissertation, Department of Law, European University Institute, Florence.Google Scholar
Ong, Aihwa, 1999. Flexible Citizenship (Durham, Duke University Press).Google Scholar
Pathak, Pathik, 2007. “The Trouble with David Goodhart’s Britain”, The Political Quarterly, 78 (2), pp. 261-271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pockock, J.G.A. 1995. “The Idea of Citizenship since Classical Times”, in Beiner, Ronald S., ed., Theorizing Citizenship (Albany, New York, State University of New York Press).Google Scholar
Sacks, Jonathan, 2007. The Home We Build Together (London, Continuum).Google Scholar
Scharpf, Fritz, 1999. Governing in Europe (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Schinkel, Willem, 2009. The Double Helix of Cultural Assimilationism and Neoliberalism: Interpreting Recent Transformations of the Concept of Citizenship in the Netherlands, typescript.Google Scholar
Shachar, Ayelet, 2009. The Birthright Lottery (Cambridge, Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Shachar, Ayelet and Hirschl, Ran, 2007. “Citizenship as Inherited Property”, Political Theory, 35 (3), pp. 253-287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soysal, Yasemin, 1994. Limits of Citizenship (Chicago, University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Spiro, Peter J., 2008. Beyond Citizenship (Princeton, Princeton University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Straubhaar, Thomas, 2003. “Wird die Staatsangehörigkeit zu einer Klubmitgliedschaft?”, Leviathan (special edition) 22, pp. 76-89.Google Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang. 1997. Citizenship under Regime Competition (Oslo, ARENA working papers, 6).Google Scholar
Van der Mei, Anne Pieter, 2002. “Regulation 1408/71 and Co-Ordination of Special Non-Contributory Benefit Schemes”, European Law Review, 27 (October), pp. 551-566.Google Scholar
Van Oers, Ricky, De Hart, Betty and Groenendijk, Kees, 2006. “The Netherlands”, in Bauböck, Rainer, Ersbøll, Eva, Groenendijk, Kees and Waldrauch, Harald, eds. Acquisition and Loss of Nationality, vol. 2 Country Analyses (Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press).Google Scholar
Verschueren, Herwig, 2007. “European (Internal) Migration Law as an Instrument for Defining the Boundaries of National Solidarity Systems”, European Journal of Migration and Law, 9, pp. 307-346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walzer, Michael, 1983. Spheres of Justice (New York, Basic Books).Google Scholar
Weiler, Joseph, 1996. The Selling of Europe (NYU School of Law, Jean-Monnet Center, Working paper 96, non-paginated).Google Scholar
Weiler, Joseph, 1999. The Constitution of Europe (New York, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Wind, Marlene, 2009. “Post-national citizenship in Europe: The EU as a ‘Welfare rights generator’?” Columbia Journal of European Law, 15 (2).Google Scholar