Title of the PhD Project
Migration and the Nation-State
Political negotiations of „belonging“ and „foreignness” in Germany and Britain in the 1960s and 1970s

The project examines political negotiations of membership and belonging to the nation-state in the field of migration policy in Germany and Great Britain in the 1960s and 70s. In order to identify patterns of political discourse, the speech-acts and arguments about the significance of belonging and foreignness in the negotiations of political parties, ministries, unions and employers’ association will be analysed. Existing research on migration focusing on economic factors, domestic and foreign affairs issues as well as media discourses will be supplemented by an analysis of the normative content and the ideological basis of migration politics. A comparison of Germany and Great Britain is undertaken in order to identify not only differences, but also similarities in the usage of the concepts of belonging and foreignness despite differences in the context and kind of immigration and varying understandings of citizenship.