With a victorious--if only symbolic, temporary, and ultimately futile--stand against amnesty looking to be secured thanks to the majority of Republicans in the House, the only part of the federal government I still have any hope at all in (and that hope is shaky to say the least), let's take a look at international sentiments towards the requirements for citizenship.
In the most recent wave conducted by the WVS, running from 2005-2008, respondents were asked about the importance of four factors in deciding whether or not a person should have citizenship conferred upon him. They were having ancestors from the country, being born in the country, adopting the customs of the country, and obeying the laws of the country. Pithily, the angles we're exploring here are blood, soil, culture, and law. The first table shows the percentages of respondents in each participating country who judged it to be "very important" that a person have ancestors from the country to be considered a citizen of it:
People of northwestern European descent put the least emphasis on the blood bond of a nation's population. The US is no exception. After all, how can a nation of immigrants, which we've always been since we gained our independence from Great Britain in 1923, prefer that its citizens' family trees be rooted firmly in the land of amber waves of grain? To the contrary, those people are the ones we look down upon with the most superciliousness and disdain today. Northwestern Euros are followed by central, southern and eastern Europeans, then Asians and Latin Americans, and finally by Middle Easterners and Africans, who put the greatest amount of emphasis on it.
There's a pattern here that surely doesn't come as much of a surprise to regular readers of the chickadee's blog. Relatedly, this list looks like it proxies pretty well for a measure of national pride. Parenthetically, I plan on correlating these results with reported rates of consanguinity by country.
The paradox presented here for many like myself is that the places inspiring the warmest feelings and that I would like most to live in are the places that tend to put the least effort into maintaining what they have. It's tragic. It doesn't strike me as overly cynical to presume that this is almost inevitable, as though liberalism doesn't know when or where to stop and just keeps cruising along the progressive highway past the promised land and over the cliff. Unfortunately, the one nation that regularly pops up as an exception to the putative rule in discussions like this was not included in this battery of questions. But even Japan has started down the slippery slope towards open immigration, recently introducing a point system, akin to the policies employed in Australia and Canada, where preference is given to highly skilled prospective immigrants.
What of birthright citizenship? Our own 14th amendment has been read by the courts in such a way that if one is able to spawn somewhere in the country, through hook, crook or otherwise, then said spawn is, jus soli, a child of the land he was born on.
The next table shows the percentages of respondents in each participating country who deemed it very important that a person be born in the country if he is to be entitled to citizenship:
Keep in mind that the four categories considered here are not mutually exclusive, but can and do layer upon one another. It appears that most Malians, for example, feel it of great importance that citizens be born in the country, to people who have previously established ancestral ties to it, adopt Malian cultural norms, and that they respect the law of the great trading empire.
The following table shows the percentages of respondents in each participating country who deemed it very important that a person adopt the customs of the country to become a citizen of it:
Are we all Georgians now, senator?
I've always felt a special affinity for Australia. If I were to leave the US, I'd head down under (Switzerland would be a close second, but the cultural and linguistic distances would probably be too far). It may not count for much of anything in the grand scheme of things, but they are one of the few Occidental nations whose population still maintains, with some pride, a semblance of a revered, historically-rooted national identity (the others being Israel, Ireland--dare I say--these United States, and possibly Germany). That shows up here.
With the importance of blood ties to citizenship being an idea entertained only by the most reprobate--hell, even the idea of citizenship is becoming beyond the pale--the concept of a national culture is the next wall the forces of the Cathedral are determined to scale. They've already infiltrated so far that only the most 'extreme' talkers on the mainstream right would call for a national policy resting on the three xenophobic pillars of borders, language, and, most germanely for us, culture!
Up to this point, our Scandinavian representatives haven't shown support for any standards on citizenship at all. But we have yet to discuss governmental policies. The Golem will keep the baddies out, we just need to equip him with the right tools. And then make sure he doesn't strike out against refugees--political, economic, religious, or otherwise--or those offended by depictions of Muhammad, or undocumented workers, or visa overstayers, or asylum seekers, or those looking for a better life, or those who love to feed from the public trough, or...
Several charts in rapid succession there, so here's an overall "standards" index that simply sums the percentages of "very important" responses across the four dimensions considered previously. How curious that Mexicans make greater demands of their citizens than Americans do of their's:
Things are grim on this side of the pond, but they're even grimmer in Europe. With the rise of nationalist parties in several European countries, I wonder when (or if) we'll begin to see the same.
SWPLs, stop emulating the Swedes and start taking after the Andorrans!
WVS variables used: V217, V218, V219, V220
In the most recent wave conducted by the WVS, running from 2005-2008, respondents were asked about the importance of four factors in deciding whether or not a person should have citizenship conferred upon him. They were having ancestors from the country, being born in the country, adopting the customs of the country, and obeying the laws of the country. Pithily, the angles we're exploring here are blood, soil, culture, and law. The first table shows the percentages of respondents in each participating country who judged it to be "very important" that a person have ancestors from the country to be considered a citizen of it:
| Blood | %VI |
| Mali | 74.1 |
| Morocco | 66.9 |
| Egypt | 63.9 |
| Burkina Faso | 61.6 |
| South Africa | 61.1 |
| Thailand | 57.1 |
| India | 56.6 |
| Jordan | 54.2 |
| Ghana | 52.9 |
| Indonesia | 51.6 |
| Ethiopia | 51.3 |
| Mexico | 50.3 |
| Malaysia | 50.1 |
| Vietnam | 47.3 |
| Georgia | 46.2 |
| Rwanda | 46.1 |
| Zambia | 42.8 |
| Cyprus | 41.3 |
| China | 39.3 |
| Uruguay | 37.6 |
| Poland | 37.5 |
| Turkey | 34.4 |
| Chile | 33.4 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 26.9 |
| Bulgaria | 26.6 |
| Spain | 25.3 |
| South Korea | 24.6 |
| Serbia | 24.0 |
| Ukraine | 22.9 |
| Argentina | 21.2 |
| Moldova | 20.8 |
| Slovenia | 19.4 |
| Brazil | 18.5 |
| Romania | 17.9 |
| Italy | 14.6 |
| United States | 14.1 |
| Australia | 11.3 |
| Taiwan | 10.2 |
| Germany | 9.6 |
| Finland | 9.4 |
| Norway | 6.7 |
| Andorra | 4.9 |
| Switzerland | 4.5 |
| Sweden | 3.3 |
People of northwestern European descent put the least emphasis on the blood bond of a nation's population. The US is no exception. After all, how can a nation of immigrants, which we've always been since we gained our independence from Great Britain in 1923, prefer that its citizens' family trees be rooted firmly in the land of amber waves of grain? To the contrary, those people are the ones we look down upon with the most superciliousness and disdain today. Northwestern Euros are followed by central, southern and eastern Europeans, then Asians and Latin Americans, and finally by Middle Easterners and Africans, who put the greatest amount of emphasis on it.
There's a pattern here that surely doesn't come as much of a surprise to regular readers of the chickadee's blog. Relatedly, this list looks like it proxies pretty well for a measure of national pride. Parenthetically, I plan on correlating these results with reported rates of consanguinity by country.
The paradox presented here for many like myself is that the places inspiring the warmest feelings and that I would like most to live in are the places that tend to put the least effort into maintaining what they have. It's tragic. It doesn't strike me as overly cynical to presume that this is almost inevitable, as though liberalism doesn't know when or where to stop and just keeps cruising along the progressive highway past the promised land and over the cliff. Unfortunately, the one nation that regularly pops up as an exception to the putative rule in discussions like this was not included in this battery of questions. But even Japan has started down the slippery slope towards open immigration, recently introducing a point system, akin to the policies employed in Australia and Canada, where preference is given to highly skilled prospective immigrants.
What of birthright citizenship? Our own 14th amendment has been read by the courts in such a way that if one is able to spawn somewhere in the country, through hook, crook or otherwise, then said spawn is, jus soli, a child of the land he was born on.
The next table shows the percentages of respondents in each participating country who deemed it very important that a person be born in the country if he is to be entitled to citizenship:
| Soil | %VI |
| Mali | 68.5 |
| South Africa | 67.8 |
| Ghana | 67.7 |
| India | 66.3 |
| Zambia | 63.0 |
| Malaysia | 60.1 |
| Thailand | 59.4 |
| Egypt | 58.6 |
| Mexico | 58.5 |
| Jordan | 58.3 |
| Indonesia | 56.9 |
| Ethiopia | 53.9 |
| Rwanda | 52.3 |
| Morocco | 51.0 |
| Burkina Faso | 48.9 |
| Chile | 47.5 |
| Georgia | 45.5 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 44.1 |
| Uruguay | 43.2 |
| Vietnam | 42.6 |
| Poland | 40.4 |
| Spain | 39.2 |
| China | 38.4 |
| Cyprus | 37.5 |
| Turkey | 34.3 |
| Italy | 32.1 |
| Moldova | 31.9 |
| Serbia | 28.4 |
| Ukraine | 28.3 |
| Bulgaria | 26.9 |
| Romania | 25.5 |
| United States | 25.3 |
| Argentina | 24.9 |
| Brazil | 23.5 |
| Slovenia | 22.9 |
| South Korea | 20.5 |
| Andorra | 17.7 |
| Taiwan | 16.0 |
| Australia | 15.7 |
| Finland | 15.7 |
| Germany | 11.4 |
| Switzerland | 8.4 |
| Norway | 7.9 |
| Sweden | 5.0 |
Keep in mind that the four categories considered here are not mutually exclusive, but can and do layer upon one another. It appears that most Malians, for example, feel it of great importance that citizens be born in the country, to people who have previously established ancestral ties to it, adopt Malian cultural norms, and that they respect the law of the great trading empire.
The following table shows the percentages of respondents in each participating country who deemed it very important that a person adopt the customs of the country to become a citizen of it:
| Culture | %VI |
| Georgia | 83.6 |
| Mali | 73.3 |
| Egypt | 68.7 |
| Morocco | 68.4 |
| Australia | 68.0 |
| Ghana | 66.5 |
| Thailand | 65.0 |
| Turkey | 63.6 |
| Vietnam | 63.4 |
| Jordan | 61.9 |
| Indonesia | 61.9 |
| Malaysia | 60.4 |
| South Africa | 59.4 |
| Burkina Faso | 59.4 |
| United States | 59.4 |
| India | 58.4 |
| Mexico | 58.2 |
| Zambia | 56.8 |
| Ethiopia | 53.9 |
| Germany | 53.4 |
| Bulgaria | 53.3 |
| Chile | 50.3 |
| Slovenia | 48.2 |
| Spain | 47.2 |
| Rwanda | 46.8 |
| Finland | 46.6 |
| China | 44.1 |
| Uruguay | 43.3 |
| Cyprus | 43.0 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 42.8 |
| Switzerland | 42.1 |
| Taiwan | 39.9 |
| Ukraine | 39.5 |
| Moldova | 38.5 |
| Norway | 36.7 |
| Romania | 35.7 |
| Poland | 34.7 |
| Italy | 34.7 |
| Argentina | 33.6 |
| Serbia | 33.5 |
| Andorra | 30.4 |
| South Korea | 27.1 |
| Brazil | 26.3 |
| Sweden | 24.1 |
Are we all Georgians now, senator?
I've always felt a special affinity for Australia. If I were to leave the US, I'd head down under (Switzerland would be a close second, but the cultural and linguistic distances would probably be too far). It may not count for much of anything in the grand scheme of things, but they are one of the few Occidental nations whose population still maintains, with some pride, a semblance of a revered, historically-rooted national identity (the others being Israel, Ireland--dare I say--these United States, and possibly Germany). That shows up here.
With the importance of blood ties to citizenship being an idea entertained only by the most reprobate--hell, even the idea of citizenship is becoming beyond the pale--the concept of a national culture is the next wall the forces of the Cathedral are determined to scale. They've already infiltrated so far that only the most 'extreme' talkers on the mainstream right would call for a national policy resting on the three xenophobic pillars of borders, language, and, most germanely for us, culture!
Up to this point, our Scandinavian representatives haven't shown support for any standards on citizenship at all. But we have yet to discuss governmental policies. The Golem will keep the baddies out, we just need to equip him with the right tools. And then make sure he doesn't strike out against refugees--political, economic, religious, or otherwise--or those offended by depictions of Muhammad, or undocumented workers, or visa overstayers, or asylum seekers, or those looking for a better life, or those who love to feed from the public trough, or...
| Law | %VI |
| Sweden | 95.6 |
| Norway | 93.5 |
| Australia | 93.1 |
| Finland | 88.4 |
| Switzerland | 87.6 |
| Taiwan | 86.7 |
| United States | 85.0 |
| Georgia | 84.6 |
| Germany | 83.5 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 83.2 |
| Indonesia | 82.9 |
| Turkey | 82.4 |
| Bulgaria | 82.1 |
| Mali | 81.7 |
| Mexico | 80.8 |
| Ghana | 80.4 |
| Romania | 78.7 |
| China | 78.2 |
| Burkina Faso | 78.1 |
| Vietnam | 78.0 |
| Italy | 77.7 |
| Jordan | 77.3 |
| Egypt | 76.9 |
| Malaysia | 74.8 |
| Morocco | 74.6 |
| Uruguay | 74.1 |
| South Africa | 72.9 |
| Chile | 71.3 |
| Slovenia | 71.2 |
| India | 70.9 |
| Zambia | 70.4 |
| Moldova | 68.1 |
| Poland | 68.1 |
| Ethiopia | 64.7 |
| Argentina | 63.5 |
| Rwanda | 62.1 |
| Ukraine | 58.7 |
| Cyprus | 58.2 |
| Spain | 58.1 |
| Serbia | 55.0 |
| Thailand | 54.4 |
| Andorra | 49.4 |
| Brazil | 43.5 |
| South Korea | 40.4 |
Several charts in rapid succession there, so here's an overall "standards" index that simply sums the percentages of "very important" responses across the four dimensions considered previously. How curious that Mexicans make greater demands of their citizens than Americans do of their's:
| Standards | Index |
| Mali | 297.6 |
| Egypt | 268.1 |
| Ghana | 267.5 |
| South Africa | 261.2 |
| Morocco | 260.9 |
| Georgia | 259.9 |
| Indonesia | 253.3 |
| India | 252.2 |
| Jordan | 251.7 |
| Burkina Faso | 248.0 |
| Mexico | 247.8 |
| Malaysia | 245.4 |
| Thailand | 235.9 |
| Zambia | 233.0 |
| Vietnam | 231.3 |
| Ethiopia | 223.8 |
| Turkey | 214.7 |
| Rwanda | 207.3 |
| Chile | 202.5 |
| China | 200.0 |
| Uruguay | 198.2 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 197.0 |
| Bulgaria | 188.9 |
| Australia | 188.1 |
| United States | 183.8 |
| Poland | 180.7 |
| Cyprus | 180.0 |
| Spain | 169.8 |
| Slovenia | 161.7 |
| Finland | 160.1 |
| Moldova | 159.3 |
| Italy | 159.1 |
| Germany | 157.9 |
| Romania | 157.8 |
| Taiwan | 152.8 |
| Ukraine | 149.4 |
| Norway | 144.8 |
| Argentina | 143.2 |
| Switzerland | 142.6 |
| Serbia | 140.9 |
| Sweden | 128.0 |
| South Korea | 112.6 |
| Brazil | 111.8 |
| Andorra | 102.4 |
Things are grim on this side of the pond, but they're even grimmer in Europe. With the rise of nationalist parties in several European countries, I wonder when (or if) we'll begin to see the same.
SWPLs, stop emulating the Swedes and start taking after the Andorrans!
WVS variables used: V217, V218, V219, V220
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