Challenging the Migration-Citizenship Nexus: The Role of National Minorities and Co-Ethnic Populations in the Development of Citizenship Policies in Central and Eastern Europe

There is a strong relationship between migration and citizenship research fields. Citizenship policies in Western European countries have largely developed in response to immigration flows. This paper seeks to challenge the migration-citizenship nexus by looking at the dynamics of citizenship policies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The paper argues that citizenship policies in CEE countries were shaped in the absence of significant immigration flows. Instead, the key shapers of citizenship policies in the region were issues related to national minorities and co-ethnics living abroad. The main goal of the paper is to show how and under which conditions these issues become instrumental for the development of citizenship policies. The paper draws on three country case studies – Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. In Slovakia, the kind of effect that national minority disputes had on citizenship legislation depended on the policies pursued by the kin state (Hungary). Romania had to revise its rules for the reacquisition of nationality by former citizens and their descendants in response to the pressure from the European Union (EU). Bulgaria became one of the first countries in Eastern Europe to recognize dual citizenship due to the need to reinstate citizenship rights to Turkish people who had been expelled from Bulgaria in 1980s. The three case studies point to different background factors – the role of the kin state, EU and the communist legacy. The paper seeks to show that citizenship studies have a lot to gain from extending their coverage outside Western Europe.