Can We Test for Citizenship? Lessons In What Not to Do

Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series through the School of Politics and Global Studies

Thom Brooks is the Dean of Durham Law School and a graduate from ASU with a MA in Political Science (‘99). Brooks has held visiting positions at the universities of Oxford, St Andrews, Uppsala and Yale and has been active in public engagement.

Many countries, including the United States, have introduced citizenship tests that migrants must pass to become a citizen. A common aim is to support the integration of migrants into their new community. However, there is little evidence this is achieved and often the use of tests may have negative effects that are unrecognized by governments using them. Professor Thom Brooks, Dean of Durham Law School, explores the use of citizenship tests in US and UK. A dual national of both countries, he sat the British test first-hand. Brooks published the only comprehensive report into the UK's test which has been cited repeatedly in the UK's Parliament. In this public lecture, Brooks considers the lessons in how not to test for citizenship with examples aimed to inform as much as they might entertain.