The politics of exclusion. Institutions and immigration policy in contemporary Germany

Abstract:

This work represents a study of Germany’s post-war policy towards immigrants and non-national residents, especially between 1955 and 2002. It focuses on three aspects of Auslanderpolitik: immigration, principally in the form of secondary or dependant migration; policy towards foreigners with ordinary residence (i.e. excluding asylum seekers); and citizenship policy, in terms of the conditions both for ascription at birth and naturalisation in later (often adult) life.

The book is organised over six substantive chapters. The first chapter presents the background to the intellectual rationale for the subsequent chronological analysis of Auslanderpolitik in Germany. Chapter two shows the development of German citizenship from the early nineteenth century through to the early 1950s. It then traces the definition of the frameworks for residence, family reunification and naturalisation policy from the emergence of labour migration from 1955 to the change of government in 1982. Chapter three focuses on the reform of the 1965 Auslandergesetz and the attempts to change the path dependency. The period 1990 to 1999 is covered in chapter four, with particular attention given to the reform of citizenship both under the Kohl government and the SPD-Green government. Chapter five explores the issues and processes surrounding the introduction of a full-scale immigration law (Zuwanderungsgesetz) between 2000 and 2002. Chapter six supplements the conclusions of each case study with an overall evaluation of the relationship between semisovereignty and Auslanderpolitik.

The book will interest scholars and students of European Studies, immigration policies and German politics.

Simon Green is Lecturer in German Politics at the Institute for German Studies, University of Birmingham.