Date/Time
Date(s) - 25/04/18
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Location
UNU-Merit, Boschstraat 24, Maastricht (Conference room 0.16-0.17)
Categories
Time: 12:00 – 13:00
Abstract
Why do states resist removing discrimination toward women (DTW) from their nationality laws? Jordan is often considered a regional leader in adopting reforms promoting women’s rights, including legislation on violence against women and gender quotas in parliament. However, Jordan—unlike Afghanistan and Algeria—remains one of 47 states that do not allow women to pass their citizenship to their spouses or children on an equal basis with men (UNHCR 2017). Traditional explanations do not explain why states would adopt progressive measures in some areas, like gender quotas, but not others, like nationality laws. I adapt conceptualizations of “securitization” to make sense of this resistance to reform (Buzan et al. 1998). Specifically, state officials securitize this reform as a societal threat to the identity of the nation because if women can pass on their citizenship, then too many foreigners can gain access to entering the nation and thereby change its identity. I engage process tracing to examine the connections between securitization, the presence of protracted refugees, and failed nationality law reform efforts by leveraging Jordan’s failed citizenship law reform in 2014 as a deviant case study. This case study draws from 170 interviews I conducted with ministers, former ministers, members of parliament, lawyers, activists, and refugees in Jordan from 2016–17. The Jordanian case highlights the presence of protracted refugees as an overlooked factor in state decisions to block nationality law reforms.