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17 Hibernian L.J. 73 (2018)
Super-Citizens: Defining the Good Character Requirement for Citizenship Acquisition by Naturalisation

handle is hein.journals/hiblj17 and id is 91 raw text is: Super-Citizens: Defining the 'Good Character' Requirement for Citizenship Acquisition by Naturalisation BASHIR OTUKOYA* But we should expect a theory ofthe good citizen to be relatively independent of the legal question of what it is to be a citizen, just as a theory of the good person is distinctfom the metaphysical (or legal) question of what it is to be a person.' Acculturation can often be a deeply unsettling psychological task that second generation immigrants must undertake to be whole in the perception of oneself in one's place in one's new society.2 It is widely recognised that the concept of 'integration' is difficult to define, but it is generally accepted that it usually involves the social cohesion or inclusion of newcomers into society. In reality, true integration is only recognised once newcomers can display cultural traits, and better still, a passport attesting their integration.3 One must be careful, however, for one risks being under-integrated, whereby one is perpetually perceived as a foreigner, and with it comes its own socio-political, and in the extremes, racial, xenophobic, and discriminatory consequences.4 Extreme caution is advised, for the immigrant also risks being over-integrated, which the owners of the adopted culture might perceive as threatening to their society. One's self-assertion to an adopted culture can face backlash, because no matter how Irish the immigrant perceives oneself to be, one may never be truly Irish enough. For example, one is labelled a 'plastic Paddy' Yet the naturalisation requirements of becoming an Irish citizen suggest B.A., LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. Candidate at University College Dublin. The author thanks Siobhin Power and Aoife Mac Ardle for their editorial comments on previous drafts of this article. Will Kymlicka and Wayne Norman, 'Return ofthe Citizen: A Survey ofRecent Work on Citizenship Theory' (1994) 104 Ethics 352, 353. 2 hao N Le and Gary Stockdale, 'Acculturative Dissonance, Ethnic Identity, and Youth Violence' (2008) 14 Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 1. On integration and the law, see generally, Cliodhna Murphy, Immigration, Integration and the Law in Ireland (Ashgate 2013). Lucy Michael, Afrophobia in Ireland: Racism against People ofAfrican Descent (Enar Ireland 2015) 11. Increasing numbers of European Union Member States, like Britain, are implementing citizenship tests as part of their naturalisation policies for fear of perceived loss or damage to their national identity. Mireille Paquet, 'Beyond Appearances: Citizenship Tests in Canada and the UK' (2012) 13 Journal of International Migration and Integration 243; Christian Joppke, 'The Inevitable Lightening of Citizenship' (2010) 51 European Journal of Sociology 9. 6 The term originally referred to second generation Irish citizens who emigrated to London during the 1980s. Having grown up in an English society, but self-identifying as Irish, they were referred 73

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