Ethnic Nation No More? Making Sense of Germany’s New Stance on Dual Citizenship by Birth

Abstract

While Germany does not allow dual citizenship in principle, since 23 November 2014, children born on German territory to non-German parents are no longer forced at the age of 23 to choose between German citizenship or that of their parents. Rather, they will be able to hold dual citizenship indefinitely. While this may be a far cry from more liberal dual citizenship policies in other countries, the progressive reform of Germany’s citizenship law gains its specific meaning from that country’s tormented history of ethnic nationhood and blood-based citizenship. It is also striking at a time when many countries in the Western world are moving towards more restrictive immigration and citizenship policies. In this paper, we argue that the abrogation of the Optionspflicht [the duty to choose] constitutes a step in leaving behind the country’s notorious tradition of constituting an “ethnic nation.” Our analysis confirms Christian Joppke’s claim that politics and party ideologies matter for the “de-ethnicization” and “re-ethnicization” of citizenship, simultaneous processes that are neither linear nor necessarily path-dependent.