ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the study of the position of 'migrants' or 'ethnic minorities' within the European Union, in terms of their degree of exclusion from various dimensions of rights of citizenship. Much of the debate, particularly the Anglophone debate, about citizenship has raised serious questions about the continued validity, utility and historical specificity of the concept in what is perceived as a newly emerging post-industrial epoch. The study of migrant and ethnic minority groups within contemporary democratic societies provides with an excellent context within which to evaluate the meaning of social exclusion and its relationship to different conceptions of citizenship. France, like the United Kingdom, was a major colonial power. Its overseas territories are regarded as though they were part of mainland France, even having deputies in the Assembly, so their populations have full French citizenship rights.
