"Reconfiguring citizenship in Europe"

Feldblum, Miriam. (1997) "Reconfiguring citizenship in Europe". In: UNSPECIFIED, Seattle, Washington. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The proliferation of membership reforms, changing incorporation policies, and European Union citizenship are some of the indicators which point to substantive transformations in citizenship in Europe. I argue in the paper that national citizenship is, in fact, being reconfigured, in two distinct directions: the first in what has been called "postnational" membership; and the second, in what is called here "neonational" membership. I suggest that postnational and neonational trends have given rise to outcomes that appear convergent but in actuality feature divergent strategies which have contributed to its emergence. In the contemporary developments, a wide array of "actors" including national governments, political parties, immigrant associations, transnational movements, and European Union entities, have pursued different actions and ways of ordering and organizing membership. These ways and actions are called here citizenship strategies. Three instances of apparent convergent outcomes are examined: nationality reform and incorporation policy, with a focus on the French and German cases, and the establishment and ongoing revision of EU citizenship.

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