"The right to be different, the duty to integrate"*: a comparative analysis of post-September 2001 reforms to citizenship policy and practice in Britain, Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis examines the raft of reforms to citizenship policy and practice which took place after September 2001 in three former parts of the British Empire: Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Though these reforms all took place after the terrorist attacks in the United States, they were not simply part of the broad range of reforms which were a reaction to the increased threat from international terrorism. Though securitisation played an important part in the reforms' introduction, they were predominantly driven by two long term processes: increasing cultural diversity and decreasing formal political participation and knowledge. This thesis provides a comparative analysis of the aforementioned processes in each state, and how they have worked to influence the reform of citizenship policies and practices. The thesis will also consider how these processes have affected the view each government has taken of the concept of citizenship, both its function and value. In doing so this thesis shows how all three states have moved away from the administrative view of formal membership held under the British subjecthood tradition and more towards that usually associated with early republics where citizenship was closely associated with a national identity and citizenship rights were expected to be balanced by active fulfilment of the obligations of citizenship.