Good immigrants, permitted outsiders: conditional inclusion and citizenship in comparison

Abstract

As states and national majorities often demand “good immigrants”, they designate a narrow space of inclusion that is conditional on fulfilling certain pre-determined criteria of behaviour and identity. Recognition of membership in society is increasingly something that immigrants and their children must deserve through certain efforts, achievements, and actions. This special issue introduction develops a theory of conditional inclusion and good citizenship with a focus on migrant and immigrant-origin minorities in Europe and the Americas. The research in this issue reveals how regimes of conditional inclusion become modes of controlling and rank-ordering minorities. At the same time, it shows how immigrants respond with diverse struggles for inclusion and recognition. These struggles are a hidden battleground of citizenship on which minorities negotiate the parameters that determine who can be included and accepted in a given state or society. Their experience shows that a logic conditionality is inherent to citizenship today.