Citizenship in Germany: Europeanization or Domestic Process?
Abstract
This article investigates the influence of the European Union in liberalizing Germany’s citizenship laws. It does so by tracing the legalities of German citizenship and domestic social concepts of it since the early 20th century. In particular, it investigates the contrast between the basis of Germany’s citizenship laws as a ‘community of descent’ and the growing number of those born in Germany still considered ‘foreigners’ via this concept of citizenship. This article considers the conversations within Germany in light of this contrast and the growing liberalization of similar policies within other member states to conclude that national identity is the dominant influence in regard to Germany’s citizenship laws.Authors contributing to the The Corvette agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International license. This licence allows anyone to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.
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