The politics of citizenship in divided nations: Policies and trends in Germany and China

Looking at how divided states competed against each other in the arena of citizenship since 1949, this research observes a number of common trends. The German and Chinese case studies manifested a shared trend in large part because they faced comparable challenges and responded with similar citizenship strategies in their quest for national legitimacy and diplomatic recognition. The policy effectiveness depended on the intensity of inter-state rivalry, the Cold War diplomacy, and the global nationality trends. The tight bipolar system and the strong international cooperation on nationality in Europe (among the socialist and non-socialist blocs) explain why both German states were in more favourable circumstances in asserting their citizenship claim. These two aspects are missing in the Asian context, which explain the absence of the role of the international community in legitimising or supporting the Chinese citizenship rivalry. This paper concludes that citizenship policies in the two German states were shaped in response to one another. As compared to the German case, the Chinese and Taiwanese policies exhibited a more pragmatic and independent character.