INTRODUCTION

This chapter focuses on five countries that have historically restrictive citizenship laws, but – unlike Sweden, Finland, and Luxembourg – have not liberalized their policies. There are notable differences, however, among these countries of restrictive continuity. As shown in Chapter 3, three of the countries – Austria, Denmark, and Italy – have very strong and influential far right parties, whereas the other two – Spain and Greece – are devoid of such a mobilizing force. By conducting “structured, focused comparisons,”this chapter attempts to spell out those distinctions in further detail, showing in particular how the politics of citizenship followed a similar pattern in the first set of countries. In all three cases, the far right became mobilized on the issue of citizenship, and the mainstream parties adapted by shifting their own messages to the right, thus effectively removing citizenship liberalization from the political agenda. In contrast, the analysis of Spain and Greece – which have also not liberalized, but for different reasons – seeks to assess the potential for future liberalizing change in both countries.

As in Chapter 4, this chapter presents “mini-case studies” of each of the five countries, in order to show the nature of the political debates that took place, and in particular to specify how the larger international trend toward citizenship liberalization was blocked or avoided.