The Ironies of Citizenship: Naturalization and Integration in Industrialized Countries [Hardcover]

What causes some countries to naturalize large numbers of foreigners, while others keep them at arm's length?What causes some countries to naturalize large numbers of foreigners as citizens, while other countries keep foreigners at arms length from their societies? This study shows how two factors over centuries frame each countrys choice between approaching foreigners with open arms or folded arms. First, colonization over a period of 50 to 100 years creates a more open flow from the colonies to the mother country, and settlement of new lands based on colonization welcomes immigrants to naturalize. Countries that are neither colonizers nor settlers have no reason to welcome new citizens. Second, left and green party power creates open laws and welcoming policies that make more foreigners into citizens.What causes some countries to naturalize large numbers of foreigners as citizens, while other countries keep foreigners at arms length from their societies? This study shows how two factors over centuries frame each countrys choice between approaching foreigners with open arms or folded arms. First, colonization over a period of 50 to 100 years creates a more open flow from the colonies to the mother country, and settlement of new lands based on colonization welcomes immigrants to naturalize. Countries that are neither colonizers nor settlers have no reason to welcome new citizens. Second, left and green party power creates open laws and welcoming policies that make more foreigners into citizens.Explanations of naturalization and jus soli citizenship have relied on cultural, convergence, racialization, or capture theories, and they tend to be strongly affected by the literature on immigration. This study of naturalization breaks with the usual immigration theories and proposes an approach over centuries and decades toward explaining naturalization rates. First, over centuries, it provides consistent evidence to support the long-term existence of colonizer, settlerlÐ