The Evolving Role of Government: Migration and Education Trends in Europe

Abstract

On May 4, I was invited to speak at a conference on ‘Language Policy as a Tool for Integration: A Comparative Perspective’, cosponsored by the European Union Center and The Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at UC Berkeley. The event began on the assumption that immigrant integration and language policy differ significantly between European countries and the United States. The United States does not have a coherent, unified national policy on immigrant integration or language access whereas many European countries have explicit goals and funds dedicated to cultural, social and language integration and assimilation. As Michael Fix from the Migration Policy Institute in Washington put it, “there are widely diversified responses to immigration across the US. The US seems to be diverging whereas Europe is converging in their response.” But just how much of a convergence is there really in Europe? I contend that Europe is indeed converging around a civic integrationist agenda which, among other things, fosters language learning but there is also considerable national divergence in managing migration-related diversity and redefining multicultural or intercultural policies and national identity.