Managing 'The Returnee': Constructions of Threat and Citizenship in Germany

The case of the Islamic State returnee, especially the threat they pose, is understood as unprecedented, complex, and one that will remain an issue for years to come. States have had to address this through the implementation of new policies and management strategies. This includes updating criminal codes and denationalization legislation, but also establishing rehabilitation programs. Whilst denationalization has gained much attention - public, political, and academic - it remains only one aspect of returnee management practices. This thesis therefore seeks to answer the question: How do logics of citizenship shape the management of returnees from foreign conflicts? It does so by carrying out a historical analysis of Germany's approaches to returnees from the 1990s up to 2023. The instances include returnees with right-wing, left-wing, 'jihadi', and non-ideological backgrounds. The main argument put forward here is that citizenship plays a key role in the construction of returnees and states' management strategies, especially in the case of the Islamic State returnee. This has thus far been overlooked. The study makes use of Lene Hansen's poststructural discourse analysis to trace the evolution of discourses - from governmental, media, political opposition, marginal political, and to some extent popular culture - surrounding foreign war volunteers and returnees. The focus is, therefore, on the different conceptions of 'the returnee' since the 1990s and their relation to understandings of citizenship. It shows that, whilst 'foreign fighters' or 'foreign war volunteers' are nothing new, the concept of 'the returnee' became part of the wider public and political discourses, especially, with the Islamic State. This thesis, therefore, makes three key contributions: (1) It demonstrates the relevance and overlooked nature of citizenship logics in returnee management, influencing both policymaking and policy practice; (2) It highlights how the returnee phenomenon - particularly the Islamic State returnee - has impacted discourses on citizenship; (3) The study makes a historical analysis of the German responses to foreign fighter returnees, which has not yet been undertaken.