| Abstrakt: |
The French government's attempt to restrict access to French nationality in 1986–87 was a failure. What had been viewed initially by the government as a rather modest reform proposal was not only successively weakened, but it was never even voted on by the French parliament during Prime Minister Chirac's tenure. Moreover, the reform project initiated a national debate on citizenship and French national identity. By early 1988, France's history of liberal access to citizenship based on jus soli had been reaffirmed, at least for the time being. Mobilisation by a collective of various associations concerned with immigrant‐related questions kept the centre‐right legislation from ever seeing the light of day. The movement profited from a confluence of various factors which opened ‘political opportunity structures’ that proved essential to the protest effort against Nationality Code reform. Nonetheless, it was the concerted effort by a range of organisations — including human rights groups, anti‐racist organisations, and ethnic minority associations — which pushed the government to step back from what had proven to be a politically costly issue, first by watering down its proposed reforms and then by creating an independent commission to examine the viability of changing the French Nationality Code. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
