Racism, Nationalism and Citizenship: Ethnic Minorities in Britain and Germany

First published in 1998, this book is about the consequences of the permanent settlement of former labour migrants in contemporary Germany and Britain and the extent to which these ‘new’ minorities are regarded as citizens in both societies as well as citizens of the European Union. It is argued that a socio-historical link between processes of racialization and nationalism lead to an exclusionary concept of citizenship in both countries. This link is concretized by the intermingling of nationality and citizenship as reflected in law and/or in the perception by civil society. Thus, the concept of citizenship can only function as a mechanism for inclusion of ethnic minorities if de-linked from nationality (i.e. ethnic descent). In addition, recent supra- and sub-national development on the EU level lead to the suggestion of a three-layered conception of citizenship (i.e. local, national, European), and it is argued that the local level is probably the most effective to resist the power of racism and nationalism.