McGill Journal of Political Studies 2014 April, 2014 | Page 38

economic decline in the 1970s. These
measures were just as unsuccessful in the
Netherlands as they were in Germany,
and the immigrant population rose. While
Germany continued to see the presence
of foreign guest workers as ‘temporary,’
the Dutch government changed its views
during the early 1980s33. This led to a shift in
integration policy that made naturalization
easier34. While the German naturalization
policy at the time was based around the
principle of descent (jus sanguinis), and
made it impossible to obtain citizenship,
Dutch policies were fairly open, and only
required a residency period of three to five
ears. Second-generation immigrants could
furthermore opt for Dutch citizenship upon
reaching maturity. In Germany, immigrants
had to have a residency period of eight
years and prove economic self-reliance
in order to obtain permanent residency35.
Despite similar immigration inflows, these
differences distinguish the integration paths
of the two nations.
The differences in Dutch and German
naturalization policies highlight German
integration shortfalls since the Netherlands
was able to more successfully integrate
immigrants given its more inclusive
citizenship policies. This is important,
because it demonstrates the importance
of citizenship for both social and political
inclusion. Below, I will briefly compare the
success of established integration policies
in both nations by looking at education,
integration into the labour market, and
domestic cultural pushback.
Education
In their study on children of Turkish
Jaco Dagevos, Rob Euwals, Mérove Gijsberts, and
Hans Roodenburg, “The Labour Market Position of
Turkish Immigrants in Germany and the Netherlands: Reason for Migration, Naturalisation and
Language Proficiency,” Central Planning Bureau Netherlands for Economic Policy Analysis: Discussion Paper 79
(March 2007), http://www.cpb.nl/en/publication/, 19.
34
Dagevos et al., “The Labor Market Position,” 20-21.
35
Ibid., 20.
33

38 | McGill Journal of Political Studies 2014

immigrants in Germany and the
Netherlands, Crul and Schneider examine
the integrative education policies in the
two countries and measure their effects
on the academic success of foreign pupils.
They highlight that the children of
Turkish immigrants are from a similar
socioeconomic strata in both countries, as
their pare