The Evolution of Citizenship: Economic and Institutional Determinants

Abstract

We investigate the evolution of the legal institution of citizenship from a political economy perspective. We first present a median voter model of citizenship laws determination. Next we test the implications of the model on a new dataset on citizenship laws across countries of the world. We show that citizenship laws have responded endogenously to economic and institutional determinants. When facing increasing immigration, countries with a jus soli tradition tend to restrict their legislation, while jus sanguinis countries resist innovation.The welfare burden proves not to be an obstacle for a jus soli legislation, while demographic stagnation encourages it. A high degree of democracy promotes the adoption of jus soli elements, while the instability of state borders determined by decolonization impedes it.Religion and ethnic diversity have no residual impact. JEL Classification Numbers: P16, K40, F22, O15.

The changing nature of citizenship legislation

“…More particularly, in terms of the laws that regulate access to citizenship at birth, most countries are now characterized by a mixed regime in which both liberal (ius soli) and restrictive (ius sanguinis) elements are in place [6]. The ius soli principle establishes that citizenship is attributed by birthplace: this implies that the child of an immigrant is a citizen as long as s/he is born in the country of immigration.…”

“…The legal tradition of a country appears to affect the legislation that regulates the acquisition of citizenship at birth: most countries with a common law tradition have indeed adopted the ius soli principle, while most countries with a tradition of civil law have adopted the ius sanguinis principle. Border instability and historical events, such as de-colonization, have a negative impact on inclusiveness: indeed, former ius soli colonies have abandoned this in favor of ius sanguinis after having achieved independence [6]. A higher level of democracy is instead associated with more inclusiveness: the countries that were democratic in the 19th century have developed a more inclusive concept of national identity and have been more inclined to allow foreigners to become members of society.…”

“…Citizenship laws have been also strictly related to migration flows. Large-scale migration, in general, has produced a negative impact on inclusiveness, but in ius sanguinis countries it has led to a shift of the legislation toward a mixed regime, with both ius soli and ius sanguinis elements [6].…”

Western European Immigration Policy: Implications and Lessons for Russia

“…Migrants very often have a great impact on the values of host societies. There is also their growing influence on the foreign policy of host countries (Betrocci & Strozzi, 2010). Large Diasporas possessing significant financial resources actively lobby not only their own interests but also the interests of those countries that historically are their Homeland (Barkan, 2012).…”

Citizenship, Fertility, and Parental Investments

“…In order to identify the effect of birthright citizenship, 1 Bertocchi and Strozzi (2010) provide an extensive analysis of the determinants and the evolution of citizenship laws in the post-World War II period.…”