Limits of Liberal Individual Integration: Comparing Australian, British and Canadian Citizenship Guides

This article examines conceptual and policy limits underlying citizenship guides to prepare immigrants to take citizenship tests as part of their integration process in liberal democratic countries. The first section defines liberal individual integration and constructs three ideal types of liberal national, international and transnational individual integration. The second section applies these types to six Australian, British and Canadian citizenship guides, showing the predominance of liberal national individual integration. The argument is that this result, combined with citizenship oaths and ceremonies, supports the claim that citizenship tests are illiberal.