The Crisis of Multiculturalism in Europe: A History

A history professor at the University of Michigan, Chin (The Guest Worker Question in Postwar Germany) has produced a well-researched and readable study of policies toward immigrant communities in Great Britain, France, and, to a lesser extent, Germany, from immediately after WWII to the present. Hers is largely a top-down study of political leaders, with relatively little information on popular attitudes. She traces varied uses of the word multiculturalism, never settling on a single definition, and contrasts policies that respected and fostered cultural pluralism in Britain with France’s insistence on minorities adopting and adapting to French national identity. Initially, immigrants in both countries came largely from former colonies that had recently gained or were fighting for independence. In Germany, immigrants were at first thought of as temporary “guest workers,” but often set down roots after being joined by their families. Chin clearly explains how the key consideration for policy makers shifted from their countries’ economic conditions to fear of radical Islam. This trend started with the 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie and took full effect after 9/11 and the July 2005 London attacks. In a fine concluding chapter Chin notes flaws both in versions of “multiculturalism” that foster a view of ethnic communities as homogenous and in the exclusion of immigrant minorities from national narratives.[em] (Aug.) [/em]