Deserving citizenship in Germany and The Netherlands. Citizenship tests in liberal democracies

Between 2003 and 2008, Germany and the Netherlands have replaced informal interviews with local officials by formalised language and knowledge of society tests (‘citizenship tests’) to determine whether long-term resident immigrants have sufficiently integrated to become citizens. In this contribution, the questions of why the citizenship tests were introduced and of which effects these tests have produced in Germany and the Netherlands will be answered. By doing so, the author aims to contribute to answering the question of whether language and cultural requirements can be considered liberal,... Mehr ...