The paths to citizenship: A critical examination of immigration policy in Britain since 2001

Patterns of Prejudice

Volumn 43, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 41-64

  McGhee, Derek ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Biopower; Citizenship; Earned British citizenship; Immigration; Institutional racialization; Institutional racism; Managed migration; Racism; Shared values

Indexed keywords

EID: 61449186373     PISSN: 0031322X     EISSN: 14617331     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00313220802636064     Document Type: Article

References (104)

1. Lucia Zedner, 'Securing liberty in the face of terror: reflections from criminal justice', Journal of Law and Society, vol. 32, no. 4, 2005, 507-33 (511).
2. Home Office, Controlling Our Borders: Making Migration Work for Britain, Cm 6472 (Norwich: The Stationery Office 2005); Home Office, Securing the UK Border: Our Vision and Strategy for the Future (London: Home Office 2007).
3. See Jef Huysmans, The Politics of Insecurity: Fear, Migration and Asylum in the EU (London and New York: Routledge 2006); Chris Rumford, 'Citizens and borderwork in Europe', Space and Polity, vol. 12, no. 1, 2008, 1-12; Didier Bigo, 'Security and immigration: toward a critique of the governmentality of unease', Alternatives, vol. 27, no. 1, 2002, 63-92; and Didier Bigo, 'Security, exception, ban and surveillance', in David Lyon (ed.), Theorizing Surveillance: The Panopticon and Beyond (Ullculme, Devon: Willan Publishing 2006), 46-68.
4. See Scott Lash, 'Reflexivity and its doubles: structure, aesthetics, community', and Anthony Giddens, 'Risk, trust, reflexivity', both in Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash, Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order (Cambridge: Polity Press 1994), 110-73 and 184-97, respectively.
5. See Mitchell Dean, Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society (London: Sage Publications 1999).
6. See Ali Rattansi, 'The uses of racialization: the time-spaces and subject-objects of the raced body', in Karim Murji and John Solomos (eds), Racialization: Studies in Theory and Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005), 271-302.
7. Gordon Brown, 'Managed migration and earned citizenship', speech delivered at the Camden Centre, London, 20 February 2008, available online at www. numberl0.gov.uk/output/Pagel4624.asp (viewed 13 November 2008).
8. Mitchell Dean, Governing Societies: Political Perspectives on Domestic and International Rule (Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University Press 2007).
9. Derek McGhee, 'Moving to "our" common ground-a critical examination of community cohesion discourse in twenty-first century Britain', Sociological Review, vol. 51, no. 3, 2003, 376-404; Derek McGhee, Intolerant Britain? Hate, Citizenship and Difference (Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University Press 2005); Derek McGhee, 'Patriots of the future? A critical examination of community cohesion strategies in contemporary Britain', Sociological Research Online, vol. 10, no. 3, 2005, www.socresonline. org.uk/10/3/mcghee.html (viewed 15 November 2008); Derek McGhee, 'Getting "host" communities on board: finding the balance between "managed migration" and "managed settlement" in community cohesion strategies', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 32, no. 1, 2006, 111-28; Derek McGhee, The End of Multiculturalism? Terrorism, Integration and Human Rights (Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University Press 2008); and Derek McGhee, '"A past built on difference, a future which is shared"-a critical exploration of the recommendation made by the Commission on Integration and Community Cohesion', People, Place and Policy Online, vol. 2, no. 2, 2008, http://extra.shu.ac.uk/ppp-online/issue-2-120608/ article-l-full.html (viewed 15 November 2008).
10. Home Office, 'Blunkett calls for honest and open debate on citizenship and community', press release, 11 December 2001.
11. Ibid.
12. McGhee, Intolerant Britain?.
13. Christian Joppke, 'The retreat of multiculturalism in the liberal state: theory and policy', British Journal of Sociology, vol. 55, no. 2, 2004, 237-57 (243).
14. Bhikhu Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory (Basingstoke: Macmillan 2000), 199-200.
15. Home Office, 'Blunkett calls for honest and open debate on citizenship and community'.
16. Community Cohesion Review Team, Community Cohesion: A Report of the Independent Review Team Chaired by Ted Cantle (London: Home Office 2001), 10.
17. V. S. Kalra, 'Riots, race and reports: Denham, Cantle, Oldham and Burnley inquiries', Sage Race Relations Abstracts, vol. 27, no. 4, 20S02, 20-30 (25).
18. Aran Kundnani, 'From Oldham to Bradford: the violence of the violated', Race & Class, vol. 43, no. 2, 2001,105-10; Aran Kundnani, 'In a foreign land: the new popular racism', Race & Class, vol. 43, no. 2, 2001, 41-60; Ash Amin, 'Ethnicity and the multicultural city: living with diversity', draft report for the ESRC Cities Programme and the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, January 2002, available online at www.aulaintercultural.org/IMG/pdf/ash-amin.pdf (viewed 15 November 2008).
19. Bradford Race Review (chaired by Herman Ouseley), Community Pride Not Prejudice: Making Diversity Work in Bradford (Bradford: Bradford Vision 2001).
20. Kalra, 'Riots, race and reports', 24.
21. Kundnani, 'From Oldham to Bradford', 107.
22. Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia, Islamophobia: Issues, Challenges and Action (Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books 2004), 62.
23. Ibid., 63.
24. For example, Oldham Independent Review (chaired by David Ritchie), One Oldham One Future (Oldham 2001); Burnley Task Force (chaired by Tony Clarke), Burnley Speaks, Who Listens? (Burnley: Burnley Task Force 2001); Bradford Race Review, Community Pride Not Prejudice; Community Cohesion Review Team, Community Cohesion; Local Government Association, Guidance on Community Cohesion (London: LGA Publications 2002); and Ministerial Group on Public Order and Community Cohesion (chaired by John Denham), Building Cohesive Communities (London: HMSO 2002). For a more detailed analysis of this set of reports, see McGhee, Intolerant Britain?.
25. Jock Young, 'To these wet and windy shores: recent immigration policy in the UK', Punishment & Society, vol. 5, no. 40, 2003, 449-62 (449).
26. Home Office, Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Integration with Diversity in Modern Britain, Cm 5387 (London: HMSO 2002), 10.
27. Ibid., 32.
28. Ibid. Subsequently the Life in the United Kingdom Advisory Group (chaired by Bernard Crick), in its 2003 report The New and the Old proposed that, after living in Britain for three years, applicants for British citizenship will be set English language and citizenship tests based on their knowledge of 'life in the UK', which were introduced in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002; Life in the United Kingdom Advisory Group, The New and the Old: Report of the 'Life in the United Kingdom' Advisory Group (London: Home Office Communication Directorate 2003). The first ever citizenship ceremonies were held on 26 February 2004.
29. David Blunkett, 'Integration with diversity: globalization and the renewal of democracy and civil society', 2002, available on the Foreign Policy Centre website, http://fpc.org.uk/articles/182 (viewed 15 November 2008).
30. Home Office, Strength in Diversity: Towards a Community Cohesion and Race Equality Strategy (London: Home Office Communication Directorate 2004), 18-19.
31. Ibid., 6.
32. Claire Alexander, Rosalind Edwards and Bogusia Temple, 'Contesting cultural communities: language, ethnicity and citizenship in Britain', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 33, no. 5, 2007, 783-800 (786).
33. David Theo Goldberg, 'Introduction: multicultural conditions', in David Theo Goldberg (ed.), Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader (Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell 1994), 1-44 (25).
34. Charles Taylor, 'The politics of recognition', in Amy Gutmann (ed.), Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1994), 25-75 (32).
35. Amy Gutmann, 'Introduction', in Gutman (ed.), Multiculturalism, 3-24 (7).
36. Home Office, Strength in Diversity, 18.
37. Commission on Integration and Community Cohesion, Our Shared Futures (London: CICC 2007). See McGhee, The End of Multiculturalism?, and McGhee, '"A past built on difference, a future which is shared".
38. Home Office, Controlling Our Borders.
39. Joppke, 'The retreat of multiculturalism in the liberal state', 252.
40. Home Office, Controlling Our Borders, 16. According to the report (1), the points-based system would consolidate into five 'tiers' the more than eighty existing work and study routes to permission to remain: tier 1 highly skilled, e.g. scientists or entrepreneurs; tier 2 skilled workers with a job offer, e.g. nurses, teachers, engineers; tier 3 low-skilled workers filling specific temporary labour shortages, e.g. construction workers for a particular project; tier 4 students; tier 5 youth mobility and temporary workers, e.g. working holidaymakers or musicians coming to play a concert.
41. Tony Blair, quoted in ibid., 5.
42. David Steel, No Entry: The Background and Implications of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 (London: C. Hurst & Co. 1969).
43. Arun Kundnani, The End of Tolerance: Racism in 21st Century Britain (London: Pluto Press 2007), 143.
44. Home Office, Controlling Our Borders, 6.
45. Ibid., 21.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid.
48. Ibid., 9.
49. Ibid.
50. Karim Murji and John Solomos, 'Introduction: racialization in theory and practice', in Karim Murji and John Solomos (eds), Racialization: Studies in Theory and Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005), 1-28 (3).
51. Home Office, Controlling Our Borders, 22.
52. Ibid.
53. Michael Billig, John Downey, John Richardson, David Deacon and Peter Golding, '"Britishness" in the last three general elections: from ethnic to civic nationalism', Report for the Commission for Racial Equality, 2006, 30, available online at www. qualityhumanrights.com/Documents/CRE/PDF/ britishness-elections.pdf (viewed 16 November 2008).
54. Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America (London: Jonathan Cape 1968).
55. Robert Miles, Racism (London and New York: Routledge 1989), 85.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. John Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain, 3rd edn (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2003), 14; Aihwa Ong, Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality (Durham, NC: Duke University Press 1998), 121.
59. Dean, Governmentality, 99.
60. Ibid.
61. Ong, Flexible Citizenship, 120.
62. Ibid.
63. Rattansi, 'The uses of racialization', 289.
64. Tariq Modood, Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity and Muslims in Britain (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 2005), 15.
65. Rattansi, 'The uses of racialization', 290.
66. Border and Immigration Agency, The Path to Citizenship: Next Steps in Reforming the Immigration System (London: Border and Immigration Agency Communications Directorate 2008), 11. The views and concerns of the public were solicited through what are described in the Green Paper as a number of 'public listening sessions' held across the United Kingdom (in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Croydon, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham and Portsmouth). These sessions were hosted by the CentralOffice for Information on behalf of the Home Office's Border and Immigration Agency. The aim of these events was to engage with the public on key immigration issues, including: successful integration; how potential citizens should demonstrate their commitment to Britain; and celebrating citizenship (11).
67. Brown, 'Managed migration and earned citizenship'.
68. Border and Immigration Agency, The Path to Citizenship, 12.
69. Brown, 'Managed migration and earned citizenship'.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid.
72. Brown, 'Managed migration and earned citizenship'.
73. Ibid. The latter can be categorized as an example of what Mitchell Dean describes as the renewed use of sovereign power in advanced liberal democracies characterized by territorial exclusions, deportations, removals and repatriations of undesirable migrants; Dean, Governing Societies, 104.
74. Border and Immigration Agency, The Path to Citizenship, 6.
75. Ibid., 7.
76. Ibid., 25.
77. Zedner, 'Securing liberty in the face of terror'.
78. Liz Fekete, 'Anti-Muslim racism and the European security state', Race & Class, vol. 46, no. 3, 2004, 3-29 (18).
79. Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism, 200.
80. Brown, 'Managed migration and earned citizenship'.
81. Billig, Downey, Richardson, Deacon and Golding, '"Britishness" in the last three general elections.
82. Michael Ignatieff, 'Nationalism and toleration', in Richard Caplan and John Feffer (eds), Europe's New Nationalism: States and Minorities in Conflict (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press 1996), 213-32 (219).
83. Gordon Brown, 'The future of Britishness', speech at the Fabian Britishness Conference, 14 January 2006, available online at http://fabians.org.uk/ index2.php?option = com-content&do-pdf = l&id = 219 (viewed 18 November 2008).
84. Ibid.
85. Dora Kostakopoulou, 'Thick, thin and thinner patriotism: is this all there is?', Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, vol. 26, no. 1, 2006, 73-106 (75).
86. Brown, 'The future of Britishness'.
87. Ibid.
88. Ibid.
89. Ibid.
90. Amitai Etzioni, The New Golden Rule: Community and Morality in a Democratic Society (London: Profile Books 1997), 12.
91. Tony Blair, 'The duty to integrate: shared British values', 8 December 2006, available on the International Relations and Security Network website at www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/ Digital-Library/Primary-Resources/Detail/?ots591 = 69F57A17-24D2-527C-4F3B- B63B07201CAl&lng = en&ord520 = grp2&id = 26685 (viewed 18 November 2008).
92. Ibid.
93. Ibid.
94. Brown, 'Managed migration and earned citizenship'.
95. James Cleverly, 'My Britishness article in full', 17 January 2006, blog available at http: / /jamescleverly.blogspot.com/2006/01 / my-britishness- article-in-full.html (viewed 18 November 2008).
96. Life in the United Kingdom Advisory Group, The New and the Old, 11.
97. Kwame Anthony Appiah, 'Cosmopolitan patriots', in Pheng Cheah and Bruce Robbins (eds), Cosmo-politics: Thinking and Feeling beyond the Nation (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press 1998), 91-114 (102).
98. Commission on Integration and Community Cohesion, Our Shared Futures, 65. Tony Blair, quoted in Francesca Klug, Values for a Godless Age: The Story of the United Kingdom's New Bill of Rights (London: Penguin Books 2000), 61.
99. Dean, Governing Societies, 94.
100. Ong, Flexible Citizenship.
101. Rattansi, 'The uses of racialization'; Ali Rattansi, Racism (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007).
102. Kundnani, The End of Tolerance, 144.
103. Floya Anthias and Nira Yuval-Davis, Racialized Boundaries: Race, Nation, Gender, Colour and Class and the Anti-racist Struggle (New York and London: Routledge 1992).
104. See McGhee, The End of Multiculturalism?; McGhee, '"A past built on difference, a future which is shared"'; and, especially, the excellent analysis of the gendered nature of recent 'integration' discourses in Adrian Blackledge, 'The magical frontier between the dominant and the dominated: sociolinguistics and social justice in a multilingual world', Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 27, no. 1, 2006, 22-41; and Adrian Blackledge, '"The men say 'They don't need it"': gender and the extension of language testing for British citizenship', Studies in Language & Capitalism (online journal), no. 1, 30 April 2007, 143-61, www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/ ~ssjer/SLCl/SLCl-7-Blackledge.pdf (viewed 18 November 2008).