Integration of Immigrants in the EU

This class looked at the various policies and practices for integrating third country nationals in the EU. Primarily the focus was on the Multiculturalism versus Assimilation debate. The lesson started by trying to define what Citizenship means. The discussion of this notion took us from the legal definition to what it actually means to be a citizen in today's world. The notion of citizenship has changed dramatically in recent decades. Globalisation has changed the value that the rights and privileges our citizenship affords us. Indeed the concept of citizenship is continuously evolving. This can be illustrated by the concept of EU citizenship which emerged from the Maastricht treaty in 1993. Class discussion centred around the future role of EU citizenship and whether or not it will usurp national citizenship. The general consensus was that national citizenship is too intertwined with identity to ever have its importance reduced by a supranational concept of citizenship.

From the discussion of citizenship the lesson progressed to exploring the main integration strategies of Multiculturalism and Assimilation. The pros and cons of each strategy was examined. Attention was paid to the different policies in the UK and France as two paragons of each strategy. While exploring the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of assimilation policies in France the main topic of discussion, unsurprisingly, was the ban on displays of religious insignia in public schools. The French approach was evaluated and proved to be as divisive in class as it has been in global discussions on the issue. France's unshakable insistence on secularism was compared with the Irish approach and discussion centred around the possibility of a ban in Irish schools.

Next weeks class will look at the supposed 'Clash of Civilisations'. Please have a look at the Huntington Article and the Fox article as well. Class discussion will focus on the Media's role is propagating the notion of this clash.