Citizenship tests in Europe - editorial introduction

This issue of UNESCO’s International Journal on Multicultural Societies (IJMS) is dedicated to the subject of citizenship tests. Formal assessments now form part of the application process for naturalisation in many parts of the world, and the practice is growing. At the time of writing, in late 2007, countries that had introduced formal citizenship testing included the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Australia, and a number of other states (e.g. France) were discussing the possibility of doing so. Tests are thus a matter of current interest, are in a period of development and clearly need some examination and discussion. This issue is intended to contribute to the debate by giving detailed information about the current situation in four Western European states (Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the UK); indicating some of the problems provoked by the tests, as well as some of the advantages they confer; and seeking to understand some of the motivations for their introduction.