The Application Of Jus Soli And The Irish Diaspora

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Introduction In this essay I will be looking at Irish citizeship, it’s application of jus soli, and the Irish diaspora.
The Concept of Ethnic Nepotism Ethnic neoptism appears similar to racisim but is analytically different. It is the idea of favouring those of your own nationality over other nationalities, looking after “our own” over “them”.
Ethnic nepotism as a basis for citizenship Ethnic nepotism is the basis for most modern state’s citizenship laws.
The Irish citizenship regime In Ireland, there are three ways to gain Irish citizenship; through birth, through marriage, and through residence. The principle of birthright, or jus soli, has been an issue with Ireland and foreign nationals gaining Irish citizenship. Jus soli became …show more content…

The word diaspora comes from the Greek diaspeirein, which means “disperse”. Diaspora is traditionally used to describe the Jewish people who were forced out of Jeruselum, but has come to refer to any group of people forced to leave their homeland. In 1991, in the journal Diaspora, William Safran set out a list of characteristics that describe what a diaspora is. First, they must be dispersed from an original “center” to foreign region. They must retain collective memory, vision, or myth about their homeland. They believe they are not fully accepted by host society and feel alienated. They see their ancestral homeland as their true, ideal home, and believe that they will or should eventually return. They are committed to the maintenance or restoration of their homeland. Finally, they continue to relate, personally or vicariously, to that homeland. Looking at Saffran’s criteria, it is questionable whether the Irish diaspora is one at all, as most Irish migrants left due to economic reasons, rather than actually being forced out of their home. As Safran says, “not all “dispersed” minority populations can legitimately be considered diasporas.” (Safran, 1991)
However, according to Robin Cohen, who expanded on Safran’s definition in his book Global Diasporas, those who migrated from Ireland due to the Famine can be classified as a victim diaspora. Yet as these migrants used the same routes used by Irish migrant before them, and migrants that came after, it is very difficult to differentiate Those desended from Famine migrants, and those desended from pre-/post-Famine

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