The regulation of migration, integration, and of multiculturalism in twenty-first-century France

Abstract

This chapter explores the relationship between migration, integration, and multiculturalism in twenty-first-century France. The first argument is that migration policies and practices do not reflect a monolithic, historically transcendent 'French model'; rather migration policies are historically dynamic, shaped inter alia by nativism and especially the influence of right-wing political parties, concerns about 'terrorism', but also European laws and policies, French juridical constraints, and government decisions concerning the 'needs' of labor markets. Second, in terms of integration, it argues that beyond the public philosophies of laïcité that are equally associated with a 'French model' of integration lies a more local or urban practice of de facto multiculturalism, which calls into question the methodological nationalism of most discussions of integration in France.