Evolution of Citizenship Law in Luxembourg: Drivers and Changes

The vast majority of democratic theory assumes the need for widespread political participation. The right to vote constitutes the most essential political right, but in the era of migration, the idea of universal suffrage is far from being realized.
The state of Luxembourg within its current borders is the result of 19th-century diplomacy. In less than 150 years, the population of this state more than doubled — largely attributable to immigration. Today, 47 percent of the population are foreigners. The history of the creation of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Law on Luxembourg Nationality are closely intertwined — the latter having undergone several changes — reflecting historical circumstances as well as economic and demographic transformations. The evolution of citizenship law can be explained using the classical system analysis theory (Easton, 1953), a framework for the study of political systems . Following this framework, we illuminate how the political system responds to a changing environment and how this response, in turn, affects the environment. In other words, we examine drivers that have influenced changes in the naturalization law, and we will argue that Luxembourg has been able to accept immigrants and grant them rights over the years as a response to economic and demographic transformation.
The first part of this chapter outlines the issues of political participation and citizenship of immigrants. The second part identifies major drivers that influenced legislation regarding the political participation of foreigners in Luxembourg. Finally, the third part illustrates changes in citizenship law in Luxemburg. Nation-building and the evolution of citizenship law are closely intertwined, which is why the different phases of the Luxembourg Law on Nationality — starting with the period of the French Civil Code and ending with the current amendments of the naturalization law — will be examined.