Legitimizing Exclusion? A Quantitative Analysis of Nationalism, Gender Inequality, and Family Reunification Policies in Europe

Sammanfattning

Family reunification lies at the intersection of humanitarian values, national identity, and gender politics, making it one of the most complex and debated areas of immigration policy. This thesis examines how nationalism and gender inequality, individually and together, shape family reunification policies across 27 European countries. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of femonationalism, intersectionality, and the politics of belonging, the study investigates whether governments that promote a nationalist ideology implement more restrictive family migration policies, and how national levels of gender inequality influence this relationship. This study employs a linear regression model for panel data, estimated using Prais-Winsten regression with panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE). Using data from the Varieties of Democracy and MIPEX datasets, the analysis reveals that higher levels of nationalism employed by governments are strongly associated with more restrictive family reunification policies. Gender inequality does not consistently influence policy restrictiveness, but when combined with nationalism, it points to a more complex pattern. These findings demonstrate how discourses of gender equality can be used to justify exclusionary immigration policies, highlighting the powerful role of nationalism and gender inequality, and emphasizing the need to understand how these factors interact in shaping migration policies.