Citizenship in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland: Courts, Legislatures, and Administrators

Author(s) : Claus Hofhansel

Source : http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00117.x

Abstract:

A common claim has been that liberalization of citizenship policy depends on making policy behind closed doors. I challenge one variant of this line of argument, which regards courts as the primary “countermajoritarian” champion of the expansion of immigrant rights, through a comparison of citizenship policy in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. In all three countries subnational authorities play a significant role in the administration of naturalization policy. Courts have played more of a “nationalizing” rather than a “countermajoritarian” role. I also show how differences in federal structures affected recent efforts to reform citizenship policy in these countries.