Nordic brothers before strange others: pan-national boundary making in the post-war naturalization policies of the Nordic countries

Abstract

The naturalization policies of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway differentiate between non-Nordic and Nordic citizens. Nordic citizens can obtain citizenship in other Nordic countries by notification, and the residency requirement for naturalization by application is considerably lower for Nordic citizens than it is for non-Nordic applicants. The privileges of Nordic citizens in the naturalization policies of the Nordic countries is a heritage of nineteenth century pan-Scandinavianism, continued and expanded upon with post-war Nordism. Nordism, the idea of a common Nordic culture and community, has ideologically underpinned the establishment of a pan-national Nordist citizenship regime that constructs ethno-culturally close Nordic brothers as more belonging in the Nordic countries than alien, 'non-Nordic', others. The article explores change and continuity in pan-national Nordic boundary making by analysing the historical interplay between ideas on Scandinavian and Nordic kinship and naturalization policy in the Nordic countries.

Immigrant meanings of citizenship: mobility, stability, and recognition

“…The jus sanguinis principle is not explicitly racially defined, but, as Erdal and colleagues argue (2018, 708), 'it is based on blood ties, on descent, and therefore implicitly has sanctioned a particular racialas well as ethnoculturalvision of the nation'. The mode of citizenship by declaration, whereby easy access is granted exclusively to Nordic citizens, is also premised on the idea that 'ethno-culturally close Nordic brothers' belong more 'than alien, 'non-Nordic', others' (Wickström 2016). Lastly, revocation of residence permits and citizenship primarily targets naturalized citizens originating from particular countries, such as Afghanistan and Somalia (Brekke, Grønningsaeter, and Larsen 2018), groups that face suspicion for claiming protection and citizenship on false grounds.…”

Philosophies of integration? Elite views on citizenship policies in Scandinavia

“…Decades of cooperation between the Nordic countries in the field of citizenship has reflected common ground on the very basic perceptions of the institution; fundamental rights, ideas of belonging and ideas of nationhood relative to institutionalized structures of meaning. The baseline of the citizenship thinking in the region was part of the collective memories and shared purpose of the Nordic polity (Brochmann and Seland, 2010; Midtbøen et al., 2018; Wickström, 2017). Comprehensive immigration has, however, induced and crystalized major changes in this basic historical legacy.…”

Carving out the nation with the enemy's kin: double strategy of boundary‐making in Transnistria and Abkhazia

“…The scope of this article is far from the ambitious theoretical project proposed by Wimmer in Ethnic Boundary-Making (Wimmer 2013). It nonetheless aims to contribute to the debate on boundary-making with empirical cases, adding thus to the excellent studies on nation-building in Kazakhstan (Kesici 2011), Turkey (Goalwin 2017), Nordic countries (Wickström 2017) and on ethnic Russians in Latvia and Lithuania (Patsiurko and Wallace 2013), ethnic Chinese in Australia (Li 2016) and many others.…”