Immigrant Nations

This book is a major reassessment of how immigration is changing our world. The policies of multiculturalism that were implemented in the wake of postwar immigration have, after 9/11, come under intense scrutiny, and the continuing flow of populations has helped to ensure that immigration remains high on the social and political agenda. Based on his deep knowledge of the European and American experiences, Scheffer shows how immigration entails the loss of familiar worlds, both for immigrants and for host societies, and how coming to terms with a new environment evolves from avoidance through conflict to accommodation. The conflict that accompanies all major migratory movements is not a failure of integration but part of a search for new ways to live together. It prompts an intensive process of self-examination. That is why immigration has such a profound existential impact: it goes to the heart of institutions like the welfare state and liberties like the freedom of expression. Scheffer argues that our ability to cope with the challenges posed by immigration requires that we move beyond multiculturalism and find a new balance between openness and exclusion. Tolerance cannot be based on avoidance but should rest on the principle of reciprocity, which means that native populations cannot ask of newcomers any more than they themselves are prepared to contribute. This principled and path-breaking book will establish itself as a classic work on immigration and will be an indispensable text for anyone interested in one of the most important social and political issues of our time.

Paul Scheffer is Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam

Chapter I: A suitcase in the hall
Tolerance under strain - The conservatism of migrants - The in-between generation - Native unease - Integration requires self-examination - So what's new?
Chapter II: The world in the city 000
The proximity of strangers - Segregation and inequality - Ghetto culture - Black and white schools - Dispersing without mixing - Back to the garden city
Chapter III: The great migration
The globe is fragile - All the colours plus grey - Classic countries of immigration - Migration and development - A morality of mobility - The citizens' revolt
Chapter IV: The Netherlands, a culture of avoidance
As others see us - Migration and nation building - Tolerance is not laisser-faire - Organizing Islam - Post-colonial lessons - Identity and openness
Chapter V: European contrasts
From emigration to immigration - Early opposition - Republican answers - Foreigners after genocide - Taking leave of empire - At the external borders
Chapter VI: The cosmopolitan code
The colonial trap - ‘Enlightened' racism - The value of cultures - Beyond multiculturalism - Prejudice weighed - World citizens in the making
Chapter VII: The rediscovery of America
The colonists' creed - In the melting pot - Opposition to immigrants - The golden door shuts - The lingering shadow of slavery - Affirmative action
Chapter VIII: The divided house of Islam
Islam and imperialism - In a secular environment - Conservatism and radicalization - Reformist voices - Believers in an open society - A world without an emergency exit
Chapter IX: Land of arrival
Rituals of citizenship - Everything of value must defend itself - A triptych of integration - Dilemmas of equal treatment - Tomorrow's immigrants - Accepting what we have become
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Notes