Conclusion

Abstract

The book comes to four main conclusions. Contrary to an influential theory (Rogers Brubaker), it is, first, not discursive idioms about the nation that primarily determine the inclusive or exclusive character of citizenship. Rather, it was changing politico-social constellations—economic, demographic, and foreign policy interests and conjunctions—that defined the political form and practice of citizenship. Second, contrary to a dominant narrative, the frequently alleged qualitative divide of legal culture from Western to Eastern Europe is called into question. Third, the book’s historical cross-section supports a critical review of the widespread theory of convergence between regimes of citizenship in Europe. It specifies, instead, the historical conditions for expectations of Europeanization through law and thus for European citizenship. Fourth, the history of citizenship in Europe since the nineteenth century cannot be told as an exclusively European one. The politics and colonial practices of affiliation in the European powers’ overseas and continental colonial empires remained in effect well into the postcolonial policies of citizenship and migration, thus also shaping the inheritance of a current policy of citizenship in Europe.