抄録
This paper aims to clarify the dynamic interplay between immigration/nationality and external policies in 21st-century Britain. The year 2002, the year of enactment of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, was a watershed moment for British policy regarding immigration and nationality, and the government has since carried out drastic reform of immigration and nationality policy in order to reframe their system around the concept of “Britishness”. The precise meaning of “Britishness” is difficult to discern, and even if it can be defined, a more difficult task may be creating a single definition upon which everyone can agree. Heated debates on the meaning of “Britishness” nevertheless continue to rage among the government, academia and the media.
Although the two fields examined here—immigration/nationality and external policies—seem unrelated, in reality they are strongly intertwined, shaping and reshaping each other in response to policy changes. By focusing on the three indispensable issues of Britain’s external policies in the 21st century—namely,counter-terrorism, the European Union and the legacy of imperial past—this article demonstrates that governmental action toward each of them has led to the enactment of new legislation and the introduction of new rules in the field of immigration and nationality, and consequently has had a tangible impact on debates on “Britishness”.
This article consists of three parts. The first part gives a brief outline of what the “Britishness” question is about. The second section discusses the concept of nationhood and the way its understanding is embodied in legislation, focusing on Britain’s official claim of achieving “managed migration”, and briefly explains how each administration since Blair has attempted to link its immigration and nationality policy to debates on “Britishness”. In the third section, specific policies on counter-terrorism, EU relations and the citizenship status of residents in the remaining overseas territories and of discharged Gurkhas are investigated. The strengthening of counter-terrorism measures caused the government to question who can be trusted, resulting in an increased number of deportations and the empowerment of the Home Secretary to deprive dual nationals of their British citizenship. When faced with the arrival of EU workers and those with connections to Britain dating back to the imperial era, the government was forced to re-examine who is welcome in Britain. The point-based system introduced and justified a hierarchy of non-British residents on the basis of origin (EU/non-EU) in combination with ability. The enactment of the British Overseas Territories Act in 2002 and the granting of resettlement rights to Gurkha veterans showed that the concept of “Britishness” still remains entangled in the legacy of British imperial past.
