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Multiculturalism: From Heterogeneities to Social (In)equalities

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Debating Multiculturalism in the Nordic Welfare States

Part of the book series: Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series ((CAL))

Abstract

Since the 1990s the death of multiculturalism has been declared on many occasions. Recently there has been yet another flurry of obituaries, this time from heads of state around Europe. In April 2010, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, declared that ‘Multikulti’ — the German nickname for multiculturalism — had ‘failed, and failed utterly’. Within weeks the UK prime minister, David Cameron, and French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, seconded this and issued similar statements. They all emphasized that multiculturalism has been a divisive force in coherent national societies. In a similar way, Frattini did the same for the whole of Europe (see above). The contexts of the renewed obituaries were quite different: Merkel jumped on the bandwagon in a debate on the failure of integrating ‘Turks and Arabs’ in Germany, and Cameron contributed to the debate on multiculturalism, criticizing the segregation of migrants and even terrorist threat by Islamic suicide bombers. Frattini made his remarks in a speech in which he aimed to justify the need for new labour migration to Europe in order to compete with the US for ‘the best and the brightest’ talent available. Nonetheless, there is an overarching context, which in Europe relates mostly to international migration1 and its consequences. More and more, the academic and public debates have moved almost exclusively to a consideration of the unwelcome aspects of multiculturalism.

Until a few years ago, our chosen multicultural approach allowed some cultural and religious groups to pursue an aggressive strategy against our values. The targets of this ill-conceived ‘attack’ were individual rights, equity of gender, respect for women and monogamy. We have to combat this dangerous attitude, which can destroy the fabric of our societies, and we have to work hard to build up and pursue a positive integration approach.

(Franco Frattini 2007; then EU Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security; cited in Hansen 2008: 375)

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Authors
  1. Thomas Faist
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Augustana College, USA

    Peter Kivisto

  2. University of Turku, Finland

    Peter Kivisto

  3. University of Helsinki, Finland

    Östen Wahlbeck

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© 2013 Thomas Faist

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Faist, T. (2013). Multiculturalism: From Heterogeneities to Social (In)equalities. In: Kivisto, P., Wahlbeck, Ö. (eds) Debating Multiculturalism in the Nordic Welfare States. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318459_2

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