This report aims to offer a policy-relevant análisis of the relationship between the different forms of social and political participation of immigrants and the integration process in receiver societies. Political integration of foreigners is narrowly related to the ongoing debates on citizenship and immigration and it has become a public key issue in most European countries. First, we propose a redefinition of the traditional understanding of the linkage between nationality and citizenship. The three main chapters look at the recent experience of Spain as a country of immigration.

We analyse both the features of Spanish legal and political response to this phenomena and the different areas where immigrants are involved in public life. After this, we show the existing asymmetry in the recognition of political rights of foreign nationals by comparing the state of the art in several European countries. Finally, we analyse the emergence of a cross-national European response to immigration and the Canadian immigration and citizenship policy. While focusing on all this matters, we suggest that some legal and institutional reforms are to be done in Spain in order to upbring an inclusive democracy.