Citizenship and Belonging; Immigration and the Politics of Demographic Governance in Postwar Britain

In this timely book, James Hampshire explores the politics of immigration in post-war Britain and reveals how fears about welfare scrounging, public health and miscegenation influenced government policy. Locating immigration policy-making within a wider context of demographic governance - the state's management of population - Hampshire argues that radical ideas saturated post-war debates about immigration and its impact on British society. He shows how the British government appealed to an idea of 'belonging' in order to validate what was, at core, a racialized policy designed to obstruct colonial immigration.
With immigration at the top of the current political agenda, Hampshire provides a much-needed background to contemporary debates. Drawing on a wealth of new archival material, his compelling analysis will change the way we think about this important subject. Citizenship and Belonging is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand how Britain became a multi-racial society despite the wishes of its politicians and a majority of its people.