Search results for "electoral rights"
showing 2 items of 2 documents
The participation paradox: demand for and fear of immigrant participation
2019
In this paper, we address the ambivalence in European immigrant integration discourses toward the political participation of immigrants. We show how this ambivalence manifests in what we call a ‘participation paradox’, which is constituted by two apparently conflicting, but potentially mutually reinforcing characteristics of the discourse. The first emphasizes the need for immigrants to be active in order to attain a well-integrated society and well-functioning democratic polity; the second is a call for the protection of liberal democratic institutions from the alleged ‘illiberal threats’ that migrants pose to society. Immigrant participation is thus both demanded and feared. Using illustr…
Mobility and Unspoken Citizens’ Rights in EU-Documents
2015
The formulation of Union citizenship has concentrated on rights since the 1970s. In the Maastricht and subsequent EU treaties, Union citizenship is defined through rights. Against this background, discussion on rights in the EU documents on citizenship analysed in this article is surprisingly scarce. The research material consists of 15 documents produced by EU institutions in 2003–2007 as part of three programmes on citizenship. In the documents, the discussion on rights focuses on mobility instead of other aspects of rights. Electoral rights and fundamental rights are discussed a little, but in general, the minuscule discussion on rights is dominated by discussions on freedom of mobility,…