State Multiculturalism and Immigrant Incorporation: a Succes or Failure? (original) (raw)
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THE MULTICULTURALISM POLICY IN EUROPE
Online Journal Modelling the New Europe NO. 32 / 2020, 2020
The aim of the article is the analysis of the genesis and contemporary content of the multiculturalism policy, implemented in European countries. The authors also consider the attitude of the European states to the increasing migrants flow. The attention is focused on the theoretical and practical differences in the understanding of the concept of "multiculturalism". Additionally, the analysis of the successful experience in implementing the multiculturalism policy from several non-European continents is presented in this article, which can be also applied in Europe. The authors also analyse the strategic mistakes and the reasons why the policy of multiculturalism is considered to be not effective in Europe today. The article is based on the case study, explicitdiagnostic, descriptive and evaluationary approaches, as well as an analysis of the works of various authors, who have been studying ethno-cultural diversity and multicultural societies for a long time, and on the critical discourse analysis of the recent publications in the media, related to the multiculturalism policy in Europe.
The Development and Meaning of the Concept of Multiculturalism
As a result of international migration, multiculturalism has become the dominant theory in the last 20-30 years in some countries of Western civilization. It was generally accepted that due to the practice of multiculturalism the different cultures can live peacefully side by side. The theory has become widely spread in the 1970s, but nowadays it is increasingly criticized; many question its ability to solve cultural problems. In this short paper I attempt to unfold the precise meaning of the term due to a lot of uncertainty in this area. The question is especially relevant as there is a lot of discussion about the failure of multiculturalism and as it is blamed for being responsible for causing social conflicts. Being examined as a political theory, we see that the concept can be interpreted in different ways and its boundaries are often blurred when trying to distinguish it from globalism or liberalism. In everyday language, multiculturalism is often regarded as identical to efforts to promote the integration of immigrants as well. The most widely accepted definition is generally negative: it determines what is not multiculturalism, or what can be contrasted with it. In fact, multiculturalism is a political philosophy and a social doctrine, which takes into account diversity and cultural differences, and defines itself as an alternative to assimilation. It is important to clarify that the model can only be applied in states where there are many strong communities that are able to survive and even seek it. However, it is not applicable if there are many immigrants from different cultures, but only a few from each culture or they do not wish to keep their identity (Joseph Raz).
European Multiculturalism: Between Unity and Exclusion
This study addresses the immigrant issues in European countries. It attempts to mostly evaluate the developed European countries. After the world wars, the need for labor force emerged in developed European countries. Those countries demanded a high amount of qualified labor force from Turkey and other Muslim countries through agreements signed. Decreased birth rate and increase of elderly population constitutes a really big dilemma for European countries. Such that increased labor demand of European countries has not yet reached an optimum level. Not soon after the immigration traffic, main culture and compliance issues have arisen among immigrants, and they have tried to overcome such issues. Many attempts have been made to overcome the real problems that still exist today. For solving such problems, different methods have been tried such as assimilation, integration and lastly multiculturalism. Historically, this process emerges as an issue on which consensus could not be reached in Europe even in 2015. The most obvious signs of this situation particularly include the harshening rhetoric of the extreme right-wing party leaders in various European countries as well as the rise of social acceptance rate of these parties. Though they were invited to the host country by private agreements and welcomed with flowers, those people are still described by the host culture and official authorities as 'foreign' or 'immigrant workers', which imply alienation. Considering the problem stated above, this article is intended to investigate this historical experience.
Ronso, 2017
Multiculturalism, as a social model for numerous Western nations, has been instrumental in shaping immigrant societies. However, over recent years, the concept has also come under increasing scrutiny in the context of terrorism, xenophobia, and a backlash against the acceptance of refugees. Furthermore, the core ideological underpinnings of multiculturalism, cultural pluralism and equality, are no longer assumed to have universal appeal. From 2010, numerous European leaders declared multiculturalism to be a "failure" and urged the abandonment of multicultural policies and values. This paper analyses the current trends in immigrant and cultural integration in Germany, France, the UK, Canada and Australia to reveal whether, in fact, multiculturalism was failing.