Foreigners as second-class citizens?

attitudes toward equal civil rights for non-Germans

Martina Wasmer

Achim Koch

pp. 95-118

in: Richard Alba, Peter Schmidt, Martina Wasmer (eds), Germans or foreigners?, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003

Abstract

Modern societies committed to the ideals of the French Revolution usually regard the unequal treatment of different sections of the population—whereby in common usage the term "discrimination" is generally understood to mean worse or less favorable treatment of a distinct group of people—as a fundamentally negative phenomenon, which is only legitimate in special cases. One such exception—sanctioned by public and international law—is citizen-ship. States are only obliged to accord their own citizens equal treatment before the law, and the application of legally defined rights and duties is restricted to those who are citizens of the respective country.