Racism, nationalism and citizenship : a comparative analysis of Britain and Germany.

This thesis is about the consequences of the permanent settlement of former
labour migrants and the formation of 'new' ethnic minorities in contemporary
Germany and Britain. It is concerned with the extent to which these
minorities are regarded as citizens of German and British society and as
potential citizens of the European Union.
The core of the argument established here is that there is a link between the
processes of racialization and nationalism which leads to an exclusionary
concept of citizenship. This link is concretized by the intermingling of
nationality and citizenship, or - in other words - the racializing concept of
membership, as reflected in law or in the perception of law by civil society.
The question of whether or not citizenship functions, or could function, as a
mechanism for inclusion and participation for former post-war labour
migrants of non-European origin and their descendants is central to the
thesis. The ways in which, and the reasons why, settled immigrants do not
enjoy fully equal status as citizens in German and British society is examined.
In addition, as both countries are members of the European Community, a
secondary aim is to discuss how these issues are reflected, or dealt with, on
the European level.
The empirical data used to probe the theoretical discussion of the relationship
between nationalism, racism and citizenship derive from interviews with
organizations working in the so-called 'race relations field' to gain insight into
ethnic minorities' perspective. Furthermore, secondary analysis of attitude
surveys and opinion polls illustrates civil society's viewpoint which is
connected to politicians' rhetoric - one of the aspects tested via discourse
analysis of parliamentary debates on ethnic minorities' related issues.
Recent supra- and sub-national developments (Le. integration into the
European Union, the principle of subsidiarity and the establishment of the
Committee of the Regions) lead to the suggestion of a three-layered
conception of citizenship with three levels of collective identity, i.e. local,
national and European. It is argued that the local level is probably the most
effective to resist the power of racism and nationalism.
Finally, it is argued that only a concept of citizenship unrelated to nationality
(Le. ethnic descent) can function as a mechanism for the inclusion of 'new'
ethnic minorities. Citizenship can in this way become the source of a new
post-national or post-conventional identity based on residential criteria.