Selective Intent and the Implementation of French Naturalisation Policy During the Interwar Period: Insights from Pyrénées-Orientales and Moselle

초록

This article analyses the implementation of France’s 1927 Nationality Law, highlighting the gap between its formal liberal provisions and its selective application. While the law eased access to French nationality, it granted the Ministry of Justice broad discretion to determine which foreigners were ‘desirable’. Using naturalisation records from the departments of Moselle and the Pyrénées-Orientales, the article demonstrates that eligibility was heavily influenced by demographic concerns, particularly military service. Young men fit for conscription were prioritised, while single women, the elderly and those without children were frequently excluded. Regional disparities further reveal that language ability and assimilation were enforced more strictly in certain border areas such as Moselle. Ultimately, the article argues that naturalisation functioned as a tool of demographic and political control rather than as a neutral legal process. This discretionary framework persists in contemporary French nationality practices, where naturalisation remains a privilege rather than a right. © Jinyoung Kim, 2026. Published with license by Koninklijke Brill BV. This work is published by Koninklijke Brill BV. Koninklijke Brill BV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink, Brill mentis, Brill Wageningen Academic, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau and V&R unipress. Koninklijke Brill BV reserves the right to protect the publication against unauthorized use and to authorize dissemination by means of offprints, legitimate photocopies, microform editions, reprints, translations, and secondary information sources, such as abstracting and indexing services including databases. Requests for commercial re-use, use of parts of the publication, and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill BV.

키워드