Nationality determines access to political rights in most contemporary democracies. Yet, over forty countries currently allow non-citizens to vote at various levels. This article traces fifty years (1968-2017) of parliamentary debates in France and Sweden to document the kinds of arguments politicians use to defend or oppose the enfranchisement of non-citizens.
The article shows how legislators draw on the broader political culture in strategic and creative ways to justify their positions, while also challenging and reinterpreting dominant norms about the links between nationality and political rights.
The analysis also indicates that initiatives to enfranchise non-citizens tend to generate more conflict when they are framed as a matter of fairness than when they are framed as a tool for immigrant integration or nation-building.
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