Reconstructing Citizenship

The Politics of Nationality Reform and Immigration in Contemporary France

By Miriam Feldblum

Subjects: Identity
Series: SUNY series in National Identities
Paperback : 9780791442708, 227 pages, September 1999
Hardcover : 9780791442692, 227 pages, September 1999

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

1. STUDYING CITIZENDSHIP: A POLITICAL-PROCESS APPROACH

 

Introduction
Citizenship Reform as a Process, Not a Product
Culturalist, Structuralist, Institutionalist, and Political-Process Analyses of Citizenship
French Citizenship Reform as a Case Study
Research Strategy and Plan of the Book

 

2. THE NEW IMMIGRANTS AND CITIZENSHIP

 

Contemporary Immigration in France
Immigrants and Citizenship Status

 

3. POLITICIZING CITIZENSHIP IN FRENCH IMMIGRATION POLITICS

 

The Transformatins of Pluralism in France
Immigrant Associations and the Right to Difference
The Pluralist Debates and the Extreme Right
The Contested National Identity
The Left, National Identity, and Citizenship
Immigrants, National Identity, and the New Citizenship
National Identity Debates, Racial Politics, and Nativism
Conclusion: From National Identity to Citizenship

 

4. RE-ENVISIONING THE CITIZENSHIP: THE DEBATES OVER THE NATIONALITY CODE

 

From National Identity to Nationality Code
The Voluntarist Arguments
Voluntarism and the Left
The Communitarian Arguments
Communitarianism and the Left
The Nativist Arguments
Nativism and the Left
The Constraints of French Ideologies
Conclusion

 

5. THE REFORM, THE STATE, AND THE POLITICAL PROCESS

 

State Constraints on a Reform
The Four Objectives of the Bureau of Nationality
Agendas, Autonomy, and Dissension Within the State
The Reform and the Political Process
Conclusion

 

6. RECONSTRUCTING CITIZENSHIP: THE NATIONALITY COMMISSION

 

The Fusion of National Identity and Pluralism
National Identity and Concerns About European Integration
Reinforcing National Identity and National Integration
Elective Conception of the Nation and a Voluntarist Citizenship
Reaffirming and Resituating the Statist Perspective
Reactions to the Commission's Report

 

7. WHO'S WEARING THE VEIL? ETHNIC POLITICS AND THE NEW CITIZENSHIP

 

Immigrants to Ethnics: Constraints on Ethnic Citizenship and Difference
Contemporary Challenges
L'Affaire du Foulard: Creating the Affair
Defining the Drama
Managing the Affair
Conclusion

 

8. NATIONALITY REFORM IN THE 1990S

 

Citizenship Reform, Membership Traditions, and the Political Process
Domestic Political Processes and Changes in Citizenship

 

Appendix A: State Agencies, Political Parties, Social Organizations, and Immigrant Associations at Which Interviews Were Conducted

Appendix B: Legislative Propositions to Reform the Nationality Code

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Provides the most comprehensive analysis of the rise of citizenship conflict in contemporary France.

Description

Studying the politics of citizenship reforms and immigration in contemporary France, Reconstructing Citizenship reveals the influential roles played by key figures and institutions in reconstructing French citizenship. An extended political process framework is used by Feldblum to study domestic changes in citizenship policies, nationality reforms, and immigrant incorporation politics. Focused on a decade of citizenship conflicts in France, Reconstructing Citizenship provides new insight into the re-envisioning of national membership taking place not just in France, but across European politics today.

Miriam Feldblum is a Senior Research Associate in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences at the California Institute of Technology.

Reviews

"Persons interested in modern French politics, as well as those interested in immigration, nationality and citizenship issues, will find this an extremely interesting book. " — International Migration Review

"Feldblum effectively illuminates how the notions and meaning of citizenship changed during the 1980s and 1990s. By brilliantly integrating political process in her analysis, Feldblum provides a most cogent understanding of French politics of citizenship. A sharp intellectual contribution to the contested terrain of citizenship debates. " — Yasemin Soysal, University of Essex

"France is a critical case of a number of countries that are trying to fit large scale immigration of ethnically and culturally different peoples into their political and cultural frameworks. The comparative study of migration politics and policies, of citizenship, and of identity is one of the fastest growing areas of social scientific inquiry. This book is spot-on in both respects as it presents considerable material in the form of a case study of the politics of policymaking on citizenship and immigration-integration as well as a case study of the evolution of national conceptions of the meaning of being French, whether one can be a hyphenated Frenchman, and what citizenship and national identity mean in a globalizing but also increasingly fragmented world. " — Gary P. Freeman, The University of Texas at Austin

"This book is an excellent work in contemporary political history of France. It makes a very valuable contribution to our understanding of the debates over reform of French nationality laws and linking this reform to broader questions of French politics. " — James F. Hollifield, Southern Methodist University