The Europeanization of citizenship. Between the ideology of nationality, immigration and European identity

Abstract:

European citizenship is seen by many as a threat to the nation state and with it national citizenship. This book argues that the link between citizenship and nationality at the national level is reinforced by European citizenship, and a new link is created between citizenship practices and immigration policies at both the national and European level.

The work is organised over seven chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion. Chapter one concentrates upon the definition of concepts and theories, seeking to show how they differ from those used by other writers. Chapter two explores the history of citizenship and its progress from the Greco-Roman city states to the nation-state and on to the supra-nation status of European citizenship. The third chapter looks at the ‘before and after Maastricht’ situation in two nation-states, the UK and Italy, presenting analysis of the relationship between citizenship, nationality and immigration policies and considering the changes to national immigration policies post Maastricht. Chapter four examines the ‘us and them’ typology arising from the establishment of European polity, the prospect of expanded rights attached to national citizenship and the differing protections offered to citizens and non-citizens of the EU. Political debate of European citizenship is the focus of the fifth chapter which explores the future for citizenship in a post-national polity. Public attitudes towards the EU are examined in chapter six, whose three pronged aim is to determine (a) the degree to which European citizenship encourages the development of European identity, (b) whether identity constitutes a determining factor in the formation of supranational values, and (c) the extent to which EU citizens identify with the new polity. Chapter seven considers the experience of EU and non-EU citizens in relation to social rights, an important element of citizenship, through the study of political and institutional impediments to the expansion of social rights for non-EU citizens at the supranational level.

The book will interest scholars and students, researchers and policy-makers engaged in European Studies, European integration and immigration policies.

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