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Multiculturalism and Minority Well-Being in Fourteen European States
Abstract
Despite pronouncements of its death by leaders of key European states in 2010, multiculturalism “carries on” (to use the Guardian’s term 9/19/12) in public policies at the national and local level in these same states. Kymlicka (2012: 6) argues that “[m]ulticulturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity.” Using the European Social Survey (2002, 2008, 2010) for fourteen European states with scores on the Banting/Kymlicka Multiculturalism Policy Index (MPI), we operationalize well-being in terms of the Council of Europe’s (2003) specification of the eight key areas of life (cf. Jackson and Doerschler, 2012). These are employment, housing, health care, nutrition, education, information, culture, and basic public functions (which include equality, anti-discrimination and self-organization) (Jackson and Doerschler, 2012: 1). Greater well-being of minority populations is seen to result from reductions in disparities and polarizations between them and the majority population (European Parliament, 2007). Scores for the eight dimensions of multicultural policy development (Banting/Kymlicka, 2012) allow us to consider the effects that specific state policies have on targeted areas of minority well-being. We furthermore examine the possibility that the situation of majorities also improves when states turn toward multiculturalism because these policies foster economic growth and free up societal resources from security functions. Do minority group members feel safer in states that have taken a greater turn toward multiculturalism? Are minorities better educated and more likely to be employed in these states? Do minorities report greater trust in the political system where multiculturalism has taken hold? What happens to majority group members’ levels of education, employment and political trust as states implement multicultural policies? These are the questions on which this paper centers. With such information, political leaders can defend multicultural policies from criticism or amend them in directions that will better reduce disparities and divisiveness.
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In much of the Western world, and particularly in Europe, there is a widespread perception of a wholesale ‘retreat’ from multiculturalism. Governments that once embraced a multicultural approach to diversity are said to be replacing it with a strong emphasis on civic integration. This assumption that new civic integration policies displace older multiculturalism policies (MCPs) has not properly been tested. Existing indices of immigrant integration policies (such as Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) or Civic Integration Policy Index (CIVIX)) have captured the rise of civic integration policies, but are not designed to measure the presence of MCPs. Drawing on an updated version of the Multiculturalism Policy Index introduced earlier, the article presents an index of the strength of multicultural policies for European countries and several traditional countries of immigration at three points in time (1980, 2000 and 2010). The results paint a different picture of contemporary experience in Europe. While a small number of countries, including most notably the Netherlands, have weakened established multicultural policies during the 2000s, such a shift is the exception. Most countries that adopted multicultural approaches in the later part of the twentieth century have maintained their programmes in the first decade of the new century, and a significant number of countries have added new ones. In much of Europe, multicultural policies are not in general retreat. As a result, the turn to civic integration is often being layered on top of existing multicultural programmes, leading to a blended approach to diversity. The article reflects on the compatibility of MCPs and civic integration, arguing that more liberal forms of civic integration can be combined with multiculturalism but that more illiberal or coercive forms are incompatible with a multicultural approach.
This highly topical book aims to undermine unsubstantiated myths by examining Muslim integration in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, states which dominate the debate on minority integration and the practice of Muslim religious traditions. These nations have a range of alternative relationships between religion and the state, as well as strategies for coordinating individuals' ethnic and state identities. Using the European Parliament's benchmarking guidelines, surveys and other non-official data, the authors find that in some areas Muslims are in fact more integrated than popularly assumed and suggest that, instead of failing to integrate, Muslims find their access to integration blocked in ways that reduce their life chances in the societies in which they are now permanent residents.
There seems to be a declining public trust in government, and this decline may not be the symptom of a major problem. Rather, it may be the inevitable result of the declining role of government in the age of economic globalisation. It can be argued that the economic system has become so advanced that it has become highly independent from traditional state control and regulation, so public trust in government will naturally decline because there will be less need for it in the future than in the past. This perspective bears some significant implications for future research and practice concerning public trust in government.
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