This paper evaluates the explanatory capacity of 'national models' of migrant integration, through a comparative analysis of the regulation of Islamic headscarves on the one hand and civic integration abroad policies on the other hand in France and the Netherlands. It argues that 'national models', defined as historically rooted conceptions of nationhood, polity and belonging, matter because they enable and constrain the framing of policy problems.However, the impact of 'national models' on the policy outcome is determined by the political and institutional context in which decision making takes place. IntroductionA few years ago, Christian Joppke provocatively announced the end of 'national models' (2007: 1-2). In doing so, he launched a frontal attack on a well established theoretical field, in which national regimes of citizenship and church-state relations are used to account for country specific policies regarding immigrant integration (Brubaker, 1992; Castles, 1995; Entzinger, 2005; Favell, 1998; Koopmans e.a., 2005) and, more specifically, Muslim immigrants (Fetzer & Soper, 2005; Koenig, 2003 Koenig, , 2007 Modood & Kastoryano, 2006). In view of the current convergence of migrant integration policies in Europe, Joppke argues that 1 The authors are endebted to the anonymous reviewers, Ines Michalowski, Claudia Finotelli, and Karin Schönwälder for their constructive comments on earlier versions of this paper. 2'the notion of national models no longer makes sense, if it ever did ' (2007: 2). Other scholars have also criticised the 'national models' approach for being too normative, for providing teleological explanations, and for being unable to account for change, or contrasting opinions or policies, within countries (see Michalowski & Finotelli, in this volume).In this paper, we endeavour to explain the different policy responses to two issues related to (Muslim) migrant incorporation, in order to assess the value of these model theories. These issues are, first, the donning of the headscarf by Muslim women and, second, civic integration abroad policies that require immigrants to integrate before they are granted permission to enter a country. The Netherlands and France introduced such integration requirements in 2005 and 2007 respectively. The Dutch government requires migrants to pass a test, and offers neither courses nor learning material. The French government, by contrast, requires only that migrants participate in an evaluation and course, not that they achieve a certain result, and offers the courses for free. Thus, while both countries have felt the need to design civic integration abroad programs, the French program is much more lenient than the Dutch one. At first glance, this appears to contrast sharply with the classic 'national models' approach, which would lead us to expect that the 'multiculturalist' Netherlands would accommodate ethnic and cultural differences, while 'assimilationist' France would push migrants to adapt to the French mould.By comparison, the current French and...

While women in Europe who wear the Islamic headscarf are generally seen as outsiders who do not belong to the nation, some countries are more tolerant towards the wearing of headscarves than others. France, Germany and the Netherlands have developed different policies regarding veiling. In this paper we describe how headscarves became regulated in each of these countries and discuss the ways in which French, Dutch and German politicians have deliberated the issue. The paper is based on a content analysis of parliamentary debates on veiling in France (1989France ( -2007, Germany (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) and the Netherlands (1985Netherlands ( -2007. Our aim is to discuss what these national political debates reveal about the way in which the social inclusion of Islamic women in (or rather exclusion from) the nation is perceived in these three countries. Our claim is that veiling arouses opposition because it challenges national self-understandings. Yet, because nations have different histories of nation building, these self-understandings are challenged in various ways and hence, governments have responded to headscarves with diverse regulation. While we did find national differences, we also discovered that the political debates in the three countries are converging over time. The trend is towards increasingly gendered debates and more restrictive headscarf policies. This, we hypothesize, is explained by international polarization around Islam and the strength of the populist anti-immigrant parties across Europe.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract