The German chancellor recently commented that Multiculturalism had been a failure in Germany. In this piece in the major Canadian daily the Globe and Mail, associate professor Irene Bloemraad rebuffs that claim. She simply argues that Multiculturalism cannot have failed in Germany since the country has never genuinly adopted such policies. She goes on to state that the countries that have been the most multicultural, Canada and Australia, generally also have been the most succesful in terms of rates of naturalization rates and sense of belonging.
This is a very interesting argument. It reminds the reader that multiculturalism consists of fairly particular set of policies that not all countries have adopted to the same extent. This is often forgotten in the public debate, where it is simply assumed that the rhetoric of Multiculturalism (which has been more widely adopted than the actual set of policies) somehow reflect political practices as well. The vagueness of the debate in this regard not doubt facilitates populist clamour for increased assimilatory alternatives, since multiculturalism tends to become a catch-all phrase for any type of policy that is perceived as too generous towards the "others".
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