ABSTRACT
In this chapter we shall address three interrelated issues. First, we shall cxamine the nature of the relationship between the so-called crisis of national identity across Europe and the debate on immigration and citizenship. Second, we shall consider the issue of how far the growth of a European immigration regime provides evidence of a weakening of the powers and responsibilities of the nation-state in Europe. Third, we shall assess the thesis that we are currently witnessing a convergence of policies across Europe over matters of citizenship and nationality for migrants and their descendants. We shall argue that the nation, nationalism and national identity remain cornerstones of the new European order. Using France, Germany and the UK as examples, this argument will be developed by contrasting the degree of convergence that has characterized recent immigration policy across Europe with the limited extent to which any similar convergence has occurred in relation to citizenship policies. Consequently, it will be argued that, to date, there are only limited indications of the development of a transnational form of European citizenship. A powerful and deep-rooted sense of attachment persists towards the nation-state, even at a time when it is undergoing a process of partial transformation. While the sovereign power of states has been eroded by the growth of international governance in relation to immigration matters, this is much less the case in the sphere of citizenship. Access to citizenship remains largely a national question, bound up with varied social and cultural constructions of nationhood and national identity in different nation-states.
