Does Antwerp Belong to Everyone? Unveiling the Conditional Limits to Inclusive Urban Citizenship

Abstract

Recent theoretical discussions have indicated that citizenship is not only a way of being, but also a way of behaving. This article aims to show how attempts to regulate the behaviour of the citizenry can introduce a new topography of inclusion and exclusion, thereby exercising a direct effect on particular ethnic minorities. We investigate the issue in Antwerp, the largest city of the Flemish Region in Belgium. With his slogan 'Antwerp belongs to everyone' former mayor Patrick Janssens gained significant international attention for Antwerp's supposedly inclusive conception of urban citizenship. In this article, we argue that the universality of Antwerp's city slogan has nevertheless veiled the introduction of new exclusionary prescriptions centred around citizens' conduct. Drawing on a Foucauldian account of power, three different modes of policing are discussed that have rearticulated the boundaries of urban citizenship in Antwerp. The disciplinary, bio-political and etho-political techniques of power each show in a different way attempts by the state to steer and effectively regulate what counts as appropriate conduct. As a corollary of governmental power, particular ways of behaving have been labelled as deviant and abnormal, thus rendering full citizenship conditional on a set of substantial expectations on how to perform as a citizen. As these expectations are only apparently neutral with respect to ethnic identities, a tension arose between the city's universal and inclusive rhetoric and its particular and exclusionary policies.

Eroding Rights, Crafting Solidarity? Shifting Dynamics in the State–Civil Society Nexus in Flanders and Brussels

“…First, despite the persistence of national differences, in recent decades European integration policies have tended to converge to a neoliberal model. Migrants are being made responsible by rendering their so-cial rights conditional upon their achievements (Joppke, 2007;Schinkel & Van Houdt, 2010;Van Puymbroeck, Blondeel, & Vandevoordt, 2014), while state actors leave less room for (corporatist) cooperation with their civil counterparts. In regions such as Flanders, this has created a political environment that stimulates civil actors to take action in support of refugees, but which makes it harder for their work to become institutionalised.…”

Citizenship as a gift: how Syrian refugees in Belgium make sense of their social rights

“…If they have other, unreported sources of income, do not search for employment, refuse job openings or fail to learn Dutch, their benefits can be suspended. As in other West-European countries, the general political climate has become increasingly restrictive, with many politicians pleading for a tougher stance on welfare and immigration (Verhoeven & Tonkens 2013;Jorgensen et al 2016;Van Puymbroeck et al 2014). For a considerable number of Syrian refugees, receiving such benefits was experienced as a demeaning, stigmatising experience (Goffman 1973;Rogers-Dillon 1995).…”

“…Over the past fifteen years, European welfare states have increasingly moralised the conditions to acquire citizenship (Fassin & Mazouz 2007;Geddes & Scholten 2016;Joppke 2007;Monforte et al 2018;Schinkel & Van Houdt 2010). Tests have been put in place to assess immigrants' knowledge of local customs, their language proficiency, achievements on the labour market and their affective and existential affiliation to the host society ( de Wilde 2015;Raco 2009;Van Puymbroeck et al 2014).…”

”Ni är inte välkomna i vårt fina Malmö”

“…Tidigare forskning har visat att när människor erbjuds vara en del av samhällsgemenskapen sker detta på bestämda villkor: den önskvärda medborgaren måste bete sig på specifika sätt (Yuval-Davis 2011; Back et al . 2012;van Puymbroeck et al . 2014) .…”