The retreat of multiculturalism – an exaggerated and misleading narrative?

Abstract

In recent years, issues regarding immigration, integration and multiculturalism have been widely discussed where a common denominator has been to describe immigrant integration, and particularly multiculturalism as a policy solution in this aspect, as a failure. This has given rise to a narrative about a phenomenon that has got the name “the retreat of multiculturalism”. How this phenomenon should be understood, however, there are disagreements on. Generally, previous research is represented by two perspectives, where the first one argues for a retreat of multiculturalism that reflects a seismic shift among European countries, and where the other one argues that this narrative is exaggerated and misleading, arguing for a more complex picture where even multicultural policies have been strengthened in recent years. For instance, it may be useful to separate policy practice from policy rhetoric to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon. By studying the cases of Sweden and Germany, this thesis examines the policy development of immigrant integration in these countries between 2006 and 2012, where both policy practice and rhetoric are taken into consideration. A qualitative method is applied where also a theoretical framework on how to understand policy development and change is used. By doing this, this thesis aims to give a plausible answer to how a narrative about a multicultural retreat should be understood in these countries. The main findings are that the picture in both Sweden and Germany is complex, with both a strengthening and weakening of multiculturalism as a policy solution for immigrant integration.