Redefining the nation

About this book

Immigration and the diversity it creates present dilemmas for sub-national communities (SNC)--i.e. culturally-distinct nations below the level of the state. Immigration might increase their relative demographic strength, yet weaken cultural or linguistic cohesion. The dissertation asks how sub-national elites respond to this dilemma through immigrant integration policy on the dimensions of openness to immigrants' presence and approaches to cultural and linguistic adaptation. Drawing on elite interviews, archival and secondary sources the dissertation traces policy development from 1960 to 2000 in SNCs that acquired the power to act in immigrant integration--Quebec (Canada), the Flemish Community (Belgium) and Flemish Community Commission in Brussels. The study shows that, contrary to arguments predicting a consistently hostile approach, SNC policy varies across time and space. Three pathways are proposed to explain how increases in SNCs' constitutional standing and policy power shape subsequent policy. First, with increased constitutional standing comes identity change ; sub-national elites redraw the boundaries and membership criteria of the imagined community. Second, as sub-national elites assert themselves as state-like actors they face a challenge of legitimacy, so that norms of appropriateness constrain their policy. Third, under other conditions greater power loosens the bond between immigrant integration politics and sub-state nationalism. A normalization of politics occurs, characterized by electoral and partisan competition. The empirical chapters show increased power to be necessary, but not sufficient, for a more open sub-national approach. In each case a common shift is observed towards openness, but different trajectories in Flanders in contrast to Quebec and Brussels show the consequences of different types of constitutional reform. Belgian state reforms "insulated" the Flemish Community institutionally from the effects of immigrant integration, meaning immigration politics resembled that of a nation-state. In contrast, migrants integration patterns continued to matter for sub-national elites in Quebec and Brussels, and their policy remained shaped in crucial ways by the context of the nationalist project. Specifically, there was a rapid shift to openness and, crucially, to encouragement of immigrants' participation in the national community. Legitimacy concerns constrained elites' demands regarding cultural assimilation, while unity and political consensus were prioritized over partisan conflict.