Integration of Third-Country Nationals into the Electoral System of European States

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Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the inclusion of third-country nationals in the electoral systems of European states from the perspective of immigrant integration policies. Until recently, participation in the electoral process was a stable attribute of national citizenship and was not extended to foreigners, and the only option for their inclusion in the political community remained naturalization. The situation began to change in the second half of the 20th century, when a number of European countries expanded the possibility of institutional participation, first to citizens from other states within the European Union and then to third-country nationals. At the same time, in European political discourse, the rationality of giving voting rights to the latter continues to be a debated and politicised issue, owing to social fears related to the cultural and religious affiliation of immigrants. The aim of the study is to assess the degree of electoral inclusion in European states. To achieve this goal, a theoretical and methodo-logical apparatus has been formulated based on theories of immigrant integration and political participation, concepts of post-nationalism, post-migration, and citizenship, as well as works devoted to the electoral participation of foreigners and their inclusion in the electoral systems of recipient societies. The regulatory and institutional conditions for access of third-country nationals to the electoral systems of EU countries were examined, and types of electoral inclusion were identified. The main conclusion of the work is that, at the same time as the possibilities of electoral participation of third-country nationals are increased, the European States are establishing additional mechanisms of implicit exclusion, which, in the context of xenophobia, discrimination, and insufficient knowledge of the language of the country of residence, adversely affect their electoral activity.

About the authors

A. S Kramarenko

HSE University; Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: a.kramarenko@hse.ru
Candidate of Sciences (Politics), Research Fellow Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies (CCEIS); Head of the Diaspora Studies Sector, Leading Researcher, Center for Central Asian Studies Moscow, Russia; Moscow, Russia

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