Changing Conceptions of Family in Citizenship Law

Many countries privilege family members in the acquisition of nationality but the extent to which this is the case varies.  Some countries also have provisions in their citizenship laws which call for a loss of citizenship if one loses legal ties to family members through adoption or annulment of paternity.  This again varies across countries.  Yet, the literature on citizenship has paid insufficient attention to the concept of family in citizenship law.  This paper will analyze the significance of family connections in the citizenship laws of Germany, Switzerland and the UK over the course of the past hundred years.  According to CITLAW indicators, British law contains no provisions which include family based loss of citizenship.  In Switzerland there are a number of provisions along these lines and Germany is in the middle.  Switzerland privileges family members in the acquisition of citizenship to a significant extent, the UK much less so, with Germany again falling in the middle.  The paper will explore why this might be the case.  The paper will also analyze how broad trends in family law, i.e. regarding each family member as an autonomous or potentially autonomous individual, have resulted in changes in citizenship law.