Call for Papers for Panel: “Citizenship restitution as state policy and individual opportunity: between uncomfortable pasts and uncertain futures”

Call for Papers for Panel: “Citizenship restitution as state policy and individual opportunity: between uncomfortable pasts and uncertain futures”, 2026 ECPR General Conference, 8-11 September 2026, Jagiellonian University, Kraków  

Panel to be included in Section S16 “Contemporary Approaches to Migration Governance and Inclusion: Policies, Actors, and Everyday Practices”

Panel chairs: Reinhard Schweitzer and Lukas Marian Fuchs

Panel abstract: Citizenship restitution has proliferated immensely in recent years owing to legal reforms across several EU Member States, and political developments that sparked interest from non-EU citizens worldwide. While previous research has approached citizenship restitution from moral, political, or legal-historical perspectives (Owen & Bauböck 2025; Frost 2024; Courtman 2025), fewer studies bridge policy-level and applicant-centered analyses. This panel aims to advance such dialogue by examining citizenship restitution as both a project of historical justice and a potential instrument of migration governance. It interrogates how these policies create new forms of (im)mobility and belonging, functioning simultaneously as symbolic redress and as opportunities for transnational mobility or social mobility capital (Harpaz 2019; Altaras 2024).

This panel seeks to cover a wide array of perspectives, spanning both the policy design and the individual interests and engagement shaping this phenomenon. On the one hand, papers may analyze the political rationales, official narratives, and/or implementation of citizenship restitution policies, as well as the role of intermediaries within the broader dynamics of memory politics. On the other, they may explore the experiences and motivations of (potential) applicants, speaking to their expectations, hesitations, or community responses.

With a particular emphasis on comparative and interdisciplinary approaches, this panel invites papers that address – though must not be limited to – the following questions:

- How do states justify and operationalize citizenship restitution policies, and what political, demographic, or other goals do they pursue?

- What roles do intermediaries play in shaping access and outcomes?

- How do applicants and their communities interpret these offers, across generations and social backgrounds?

- What does all this tell us about evolving conceptions of migration, citizenship, and justice in contemporary Europe?

Please send your proposed contributions’ title and 250-word abstract by December 18, 2025, to Reinhard Schweitzer (rschweitzer@uao.es) and Lukas Marian Fuchs (fuchs@dezim-institut.de). The authors of all selected abstracts will be notified by December 22, 2025.