Citizenship in Germany and Genertela

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 99 21:06 MET


Steve Lieb:
> This is way, way outside the scope of this discussion,

True. Yet:

> Let's start with the ones I know have barriers to non-native born
> nationals holding the highest office (in these cases I'm almost
> certainly right):

<snip>
> Germany (not sure, but Joerg can confirm this)

There is no special requirement to hold political offices in Germany except full German citizenship and adulthood.

> And this is a relatively enlightened time, where people are mobile and very
> cosmopolitan. Think about 500 years ago? In clan based or tribal
> societies?

> Heck there's a huge brew up in Germany today over opening their
> citizenship to people of non-German descent!

Not quite, but it is a nice tie back into the Ancestor Worship thread.

What some benighted right-wing people (roughly the US equivalent of Democrats, though...) are getting heated about is dual citizenship. E.g. Turkish inheritance laws demand that in order to be a heir to whatever goods in a legacy you have to be a Turkish citizen. This has been a major barrier for many German residents of Turkish (or Kurd) nationality against applying for German citizenship, even if they were born here and have spent all their lives here. Now, with the discussed possibility of dual citizenship, this barrier would be lowered considerably. Propagators claim this would further the integration of foreign residents in Germany, opponents fear a wave of immigration following family members who get German citizenship.

>From (short) personal experience as a foreign resident, I found it
annoying not to be able to participate in the politics of the host country. But even if I had stayed longer, and applied for citizenship, I doubt that I would have lost my "national identity" in the way of quirks, values, interpretation of history, and most of all customs.

Now back to Glorantha. If I am a roving wanderer who gets stuck with some foreign tribe or clan and who develops both personal and "political" ties to this group, and if my abilities make me a person of some standing there, I'd expect myself to develop loyalties to this group, and probably a desire to belong. In central Genertela, the cultures are sufficiently inclusive - the Orlanthi have various ways for foreigners to be added to their structure, and the Lunar Empire provides at least easy access to the over-culture if not to the local culture.

This requires some identification of the newcomer with the culture he or she wants to join. Where this identification is lacking, integration will be less than complete. (This goes for the real world example above, too...)

Both beast and horse nomad culture recognize the powerful strangers, and will accept them and even follow their lead as long as they betray no (further) weaknesses.

Malkioni culture appears to be a lot less inclusive - the curse of Monotheism, I guess, is diminished tolerance towards other religious and social practices. Still, some integration is possible even in linealist Seshnela, as the disappearance of the Pendali in Seshnegi populace and the black-skinned Malkioni people of Pithdaros prove.

Kralorela has a "training camp" for foreigners to become acceptable, Vormain bars almost all foreign contact, whereas the East Isles seem to be very inclusive.


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