Citizenship has evolved extensively in the United Kingdom both as a political and as a legal concept. In a basic sense, citizenship can be explained as “being a member of a particular community or state” bringing with it rights and responsibilities such as paying taxes, right of abode and to vote etc. (Citizenship Foundation, 2006). The UK being a part of the European Union (EU) however makes British citizens automatic citizens of the EU as stated under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty (1993) and vice versa.
Nonetheless, in an era of financial crisis and fear of terrorism, there is ongoing debate about the benefits and costs that comes with this automatic EU citizenship and currently a significant political issue in the UK.
. Facts, Commentary and Analysis (the body - here, you state your findings, make comments on your observations and analyse all your findings about the subject)
The freedom of movement of people is a fundamental right guaranteed to EU citizens in line with its treaties, “realised through the area of freedom, security and justice without internal borders” (Summaries of EU legislation, n.d). This feature of the EU has made it easy for other EU citizens and their families to migrate easily to the UK for various reasons but recently, mainly to seek greener pastures considering the hardship that accompanied the global economic turmoil of 2007.
According to the BBC (August, 2013), figures from the Office of National Statistics showed a total of 58,000 immigrants arrived in the UK from countries that joined the EU since 2004 in the year to September, 2012. A separate report also showed the number of Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK rose by a quarter in the three months to August, 2013, up nearly 26% fro...
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...s of what the reason might be, migration which sometimes eventually results in citizenship has always been a part of human evolution and very unlikely to suddenly stop due to a group of people’s preferences.
Bibliography (go to this website and others like it to improve your referencing styles. http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/instruct/ref/harvard.htm)
Citizenship Foundation (2006). What is Citizenship: Available from: http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/lib_res_pdf/0193.pdf [Accessed: 16/11/2013]
BBC (2013). Viewpoints: How might Romanian and Bulgarian immigration affect UK. BBC [online] 16 August. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23712988 [Accessed: 17/11/2013]
BBC (2013). Net Migration to UK increases – Office of National Statistics. BBC [online] 29 August. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23878689 [Accessed: 17/11/2013]
As the hostility toward immigrants had begun to relax, the residency period was reduced to two years by 1824. More reforms were made over several decades, and by 1870 new legislation gave persons of African descent, Asians and other non-white groups access to citizenship. As the country matured and became more multiracial, additional legislation would be passed to prevent “protected groups” from discrimination and exclusion. Present day, the United States is still a country of immigrants and continues to expand its laws to be inclusive of all its citizens and residents. All participants who contributed to the diversity of this county helped to create the vibrant economy and democracy that we know
Immigrants leave their countries in search for a better life and improvement of their situation. There is no singular reason for immigration; motivations range from better economic prospects to political safety. As of late, the number of immigrants living in the United States is an estimated 11 million. Those who immigrate are expected to contribute to the United States culturally, politically, and economically. Yet, full assimilation becomes difficult to achieve when the immigrant is made into “the other” by the country of reception.
In his address to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson declared freedom of the seas in times of peace and war. Looking back, it seems ridiculous to think that anyone could challenge the right of individuals to navigate the oceans freely. However, fast-forward to the twenty-first century and we can see an analogous debate over the issue of immigration rights, with territorial borders being the main topic of discussion. The system of immigration in the United States is complex and oftentimes restrictive, and while revisions to the system usually include increasing quotas or other solutions to let in certain groups of people who deserve special consideration (such as those whose skills are needed in a particular field), they are still very limited solutions. The obvious question that arises from letting in some people but not others is that of fairness. Is the accident of birth or luck of being in the right place at the right time enough to justify restrictive citizenship to a select few? I would argue not. I intend to argue that a commitment to human rights entails the position that borders ought to be open in order to guarantee other human rights, especially the right to migrate.
Developed countries like the United States and many Western European countries lure migrants by better perspectives, but they offer them few opportunities for legal immigration. Restrictions on legal immigration
In Figure 4.4 (Raghuram and Erel, 2014, p. 144) shown that the inflow and outflow from 1966 to 2005 almost mirror each other. Migration is a way of connecting people and places to each other in various ways and is not just about movement from one place to another. According to (Catriona Harvard, 2014, p. 68 – 71) Bushra Fleih a migrant family from Iraq that now live on City Road in Cardiff maintain their existing family connections through Skype, although they are very far from their family and home in Iraq. On other hand it shows how Nof Al-Kelaby has lost his connections through migration but has remade and established the connections through his new
Bohuslav Sobotka, the Czech prime minister, said the following in a recent interview as a warning ‘immigrants may bring about the collapse of the EU.’ Refugees are intruders and impose burdens onto other countries. Refugees will take jobs and resources from struggling
The Brexit campaign was based on fear of Middle Eastern migrants entering the country due to the EU’s free movement of Europeans and promises to spread refugees amongst European countries. Activists declared “We want our country back’. This sentiment was echoed by various British citizens. One citizen, Clive a taxi driver from seaside Margate saw his country as changing too much. Clive described that foreigners were filling his towns schools and declared that the neighboring town Cliftonville was so filled with migrant gypsies it was like being in Romania. These concerns over changing ethnic identity catapulted the leave campaign to victory. This caused opponent of Brexit Prime Minister David Cameron to resign and be replaced by Theresa May (League of Nationalists 2016, 4-5). May now has the task of leading the United Kingdom after Brexit. May must now decide if she will continue economically beneficial trade agreements at the expense at allowing immigration (Mind Your Step 2016, 1). The situations in the United Kingdom and Hungary have parallels to German nationalism of the 19th
DeParle, J. (2010, June 25). Global Migration: A World Ever More on the Move. The New
Bibliography:(sorry, I did this paper a while ago and I didn't have to do a bibliography so not really sure)
More than half of people living in low-income households in London are from ethnic minorities. This is as a result of the high proportion of people from ethnic minorities in London who are in low income combined with the high proportion of the total population in London who are from ethnic minorities. Statistics show that black or minority ethnics (BME) only 20% of the white population live in poverty while people with ethnic origin show much greater numbers. 30% for Indians and Black Caribbean's, 50% for Black Africans, 60% for Pakistanis, 70% for Bangladeshis. The proportion of BME’s in low-income households declined during the late 1990s up to the early 2000s but has been rising since then (Browne, K. et al 2009). It should be noted that the proportion of ethnic people in poverty between 2008 and 2009 was lower than that of a decade previously, however the drop was not large enough to make a significant difference.The effect of this is mostly felt by single mothers, pensioners, children and refugees who Murray (1994) refers to as a new “sub-underclass”. Statistics gathered by JRF show that over half of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African children in the UK are growing up in poverty with a staggering 70% of Bangladeshi children growing up poor (Davies, Hugh; Joshi, Heather 1998). Majority of these immigrants have come to Britain in order to find work however statistics...
Britain is regarded as one of the most ethically and culturally diverse countries in Europe. According to the 1999 census around 3 million people in the United Kingdom, which equates to 6% of the population, belong to minority ethnic groups (Le Var 1998). The 2001 census suggests that this figure is now around 7.9%, which equates to 4.6 million (Office for National Statistics 2003).
Migration is the geographical movement of people in order to settle in other places for longer periods of time. It has been extensively analyzed by historians and social scientists. Philosophers however have thought little and have said even less about it. The migration policies involve highly consented normative judgments in all phases; the gap is quite astonishing. The political philosophers and the political theorists rarely discuss about migration. They have never ever developed a coherent ethics of migration. The theorists have started thinking about this issue from the last thirty years and still we do not have any comprehensive and systematic treatment.
The definition of citizenship has more to do than just a person who live in the country. A citizenship can be obtained by confirming the legal requirements and laws that comes from the nation, state and local authorities. Once the person becomes a citizen in the lawful country, the person will possess the rights and privilege for being a citizen, in addition to that they will also have the means to serve their responsibilities within the country, and in return the person can get the benefits from being a citizen. The person will get the rights to express themselves, freedom to worship, receive a fair trial by the jury, rights for employment, the right to vote, the right to pursue the office and the right to pursue liberty/happiness. I believe
2. The body is made up of the paragraphs which support your thesis. These paragraphs contain the evidence,
The debate about British Identity has been prominently featured in recent years as a public concern. The foundation of British Identity was based on the act of union in 1801 between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that created Great Britain. Heath and Roberts describe this identity as “a relatively recent construct and was gradually superimposed on earlier national identities of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish” (2008:4). The four nations were unified mainly because of the political and economic project of the British Empire that developed a shared agenda and The Second World War which melted the distinctive differences between the constituent nations (Ward, 2004). According to Colley, the interests that unified the nations do not exist and even if they do” they are less distinctive” (1992). Although there is identification with Britishness, it is noticeable that Britons hold a stronger allegiance to their primary nation. The British Identity is decreasing as many writers suggested, and this is due to many different trends and influences such as globalization, immigration and communication (Heath and Roberts, 2008). This essay highlights some of the reasons of the decline in the British national identity and the rise of the consentient nation’s sentiment. This is approached by firstly considering the internal factors of the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales, and secondly the external factor of immigration and will analyze the relationship between age and identification with a nation.