The Constitutional Citizen in Narratives
participation, equal opportunities and integration of all people’. 22 These demands
are based on different conceptions of a German ‘people’, 23 the former referring to
an ethnocultural community and the latter including all human beings in Germany.
Notably, neither conception overlaps with the formal German citizenry and neither
demand would directly change the citizenship status of any individual. With their
(so far unsuccessful) contributions to constitutional identity discourse, both groups
instead aim to enshrine opposing versions of a ‘happy ending’ to their respective
German narratives of peoplehood: the maintenance of a supposed coherent
cultural identity and the equal participation of all residents in society. In terms of
changing constitutional citizenship, though, they work similarly. The suggested
amendments would have implications for the meaning of membership in a
‘German people’ without directly addressing citizenship regimes. Shaw’s notion
of constitutional citizenship opens up a new and productive way to capture and
analyse this relation.
THE CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL LIMITS OF CONSTITUTIONAL
CITIZENSHIP
But as every concept, constitutional citizenship, too, has its limits. Shaw clearly
points this out regarding the demarcation between constitutional citizenship and
citizenship more broadly — as she emphasises, constitutional citizenship ‘misses
much that can be said about the “street-level” aspects of the regulation of
citizenship’. 24 The demarcation between constitutional citizenship and
constitutionalism more broadly, however, remains somewhat less clear — at least
to a social scientist. What is it about constitutionalism, if anything, that lies beyond
the analytical scope of constitutional citizenship? The answer could maybe refer
to developments within constitutional discourse that, in contrast to the examples
given above, do not have clear implications for ‘aspects of the membership
relation that go to the very heart of a polity’ 25 within a certain context. But what
might these be? Take for instance the several typical ‘“populist moves” on
constitutional citizenship’ that Shaw identifies. 26 Most of them directly relate to
the governance of citizenship status and citizenship rights. They include, for
example, the stripping of the status, or the unequal distribution, of social and
welfare rights, which have a clear bearing on membership. One of these moves
also refers to structural attacks on the institutions guaranteeing the rule of law
itself. 27 While it often comes hand-in-hand with other developments — considered
22
23
24
25
26
27
Johannes Eichenhofer and Farhad Dilmaghani, Mehr Integration und Teilhabe. Zwei
Vorschläge für Rechtliche Neuregelungen (Report, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Forum Berlin
2017) <https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/dialog/13302.pdf>; Anti-Rassismus Agenda 2025 —
Für
eine
Rassismusfreie
und
Chancengerechte
Einwanderungsgesellschaft.
Maßnahmenkatalog des Begleitausschusses der BKMO (Agenda, Bundeskonferenz der
Migrantenorganisationen 31 August 2020) 25 <https://bundeskonferenz-mo.de/wpcontent/uploads/2020/08/200831_Antirassismus-Agenda-2025_BKMO.pdf>; Impulspapier
Der Migrant*innenorganisationen Zur Teilhabe in Der Einwanderungsgesellschaft. Wie
Interkulturelle Öffnung Jetzt Gelingen Kann! (Report, Migrant*innenorganisationen 2016) 9.
Shaw (n 1) 26–28. See also Kriszta Kovács’ contribution to this symposium: Kriszta Kovács,
People, Sovereignty And Citizenship: The Ethnonational Populists’ Constitutional
Vocabulary’ (2020) 2(2) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 389.
Shaw (n 1) 44.
ibid 57.
ibid 190.
ibid 190–91. See also Kovács (n 23).
375