Braucht mein Teddybaer auch Visum

Abstract

In the context of western liberal democracies, both the German state and the German nation have undergone a unique evolutionary process during the twentieth century. Stemming from this anomalous development, citizenship in Germany represents not only membership in the German polity but also membership in the German cultural community. Naturalization standards, in contrast to every major immigrant-receiving state, were thus traditionally based on descent-based (as opposed to territorial-based) standards. Consequentially, the large population of foreign guestworkers that entered Germany through post-War labor recruitment programs has been systematically excluded from formal state membership. This exclusion, by producing a disempowered and disillusioned class of pseudo-citizens, has produced alarming tensions between ethnic German citizens and foreign resident minorities. The Nationality Act, enacted in 2000, attempted to address this friction by implementing a naturalization regime with a partial jus soli element. This study thus aims to determine whether the Nationality Act of 2000, by implementing paradigmatic reforms, has proven capable of facilitating the desired process of structural integration.