The new "integration" tests and materials in the Netherlands, Germany, Baden-Wurttemberg, and the United Kingdom: the muslim other and the change from multiculturalism to assimilation

Abstract

In the Netherlands, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, and the United Kingdom new “integration” tests and materials have recently been instituted. This thesis will examine these materials in an attempt to understand what their purpose is and why they have recently come into existence. In particular, it will be shown that the Netherlands and Baden-Wurttemberg tests specifically target Muslim populations: these tests will be analyzed to display the identities that are constructed within the tests and an attempt will be made to explain why it is specifically Muslims, and specifically these identities that have been targeted. The “integration” materials in general display an overall change in ideology from multiculturalism to acculturative assimilation, wherein liberalism has been empowered to make demands on immigrants for adaptation of the “core” culture. This in turn has been caused by antagonisms inherent within liberalism itself which are brought to crisis through confrontation with a critical Other which is defined as outside the understanding of the liberal system: particularly Muslims. The “integration” tests and materials are an attempt on the part of western liberal democracy to resolve the conflicts and repair the liberal system by empowering liberalism to make demands which would make the Other more compatible with the “core” culture of liberalism.