Citizenship policies and ideas of nationhood in Scandinavia

Abstract

This article analyzes the recent changes in naturalization policies in three Nordic countries, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Considering the homogeneity of the region in terms of culture, social structure and polity, the discrepancy in current citizenship regulation is remarkable. Similar problem definitions have generated diametrical opposite solutions. This is even more striking as the three countries, hailing on perceived ideas of common interests and various experiences of shared rule in different political constellations for the best part of the last 500 years, also cooperated closely in forging their national citizenship legislation from the 1880s up till 1979. The article gives perspective to this novel variation, analyzing the interplay between aims and means in the naturalization policies. Basic questions like citizenship rights, the social and cultural cohesion of the nation state, national ideology and questions of identity will be addressed.

Keywords:

• citizenship
• immigration
• integration policies
• Nordic region

Notes

1. Brubaker (2004) himself has renewed and developed the original dichotomy, underlining the problems attached to characterizing any state as a clear case in terms of the civic/ethnic divide, as well as opposing the often normative approach of scholars using the dichotomy in relation to questions of inclusion/exclusion.

2. A large number of scholars can be said to belong in this academic tradition, among them Bauböck (1994), Kymlicka (1995), Parekh (2000) and Young (2000).

3. Tomas Hammar (1990) had elaborated on this phenomenon already in 1990 by introducing the concept denizenship, for legal residents without political citizenship.

4. A number of European governments introduced measures to address this new concern in the form of requirements to qualify for naturalization and ‘integration exams’ to get access to their territory (e.g. the Netherlands) or achieve permanent residency (e.g. Norway and Denmark). In academia the importance of the nation was scholarly readdressed by, among others, Calhoun (2007) and Pickus (2005).