Farewell to Multiculturalism? Sharing Values and Identities in Societies of Immigration
Author(s)
Baubock, Rainer
Abstract
For critics of multiculturalism societies of immigration need to strengthen cohesion based on shared democratic values and national identities. The paper suggests that democratic values are not a sufficient basis for political cohesion because they are universal and cannot identify a particular polity towards which one ought to be loyal. Immigrants are always asked to accept a package deal that includes not only democratic values but also the hegemony of established national cultures. Shared democratic values may also be not strictly necessary for political cohesion. They must be embedded in political institutions. If political loyalty cannot be exclusively based on democratic values, must societies of immigration then ask newcomers to assimilate into a shared national identity?
