IMMIGRATION, SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP AND HOUSING IN GERMANY

Germany represents an especially interesting case study for the legal- institutional aspects and the politics of immigration because it exper ienced high rates of immigration of ethnic Germans and asylum seekers in the early 1990s, at a time when the unification of East and West Ge rmany raised issues about the meaning of national membership. The anal ysis focuses on the conflicts revolving around participation and membe rship in the welfare state, social citizenship and, in particular, on housing issues. The discussion distinguishes various categories of imm igrants with distinct sets of claims to social citizenship, such as et hnic Germans, recognized refugees, temporary labor migrants, asylum se ekers and unauthorized migrants. It then proceeds to analyze why housi ng has become such a contentious issue with respect to selected immigr ant groups. High rates of immigration have made the structural deficie ncies of German housing policy more visible. It is paradoxical that a nationalist, viz. ethnicized interpretation of membership has not cont ributed to really substantial moral support for welfare state transfer s in the course of German unification but has served to advance restri ctionist immigration policies.