Papers by Phil Triadafilopoulos
Difficult questions regarding the so-called limits of toleration or accommodation are inevitable ... more Difficult questions regarding the so-called limits of toleration or accommodation are inevitable in today's diverse, immigration societies. Such questions cannot be satisfactorily answered through simple assertions of the majority's will or by retreating to a defense of 'core liberal values.' Rather, dealing with the challenges of diversity in a manner consistent with liberal-democratic principles requires that decision-making concerning the terms of collective life be informed by sincere and respectful deliberation. But how and where do we go about engaging in such deliberation? This essay suggests that the courts seem to offer an arena that is more conducive than other traditional democratic institutions in terms of enabling the type of dialogue and analysis essential to realizing meaningful deliberation. Paradoxically, then, the judicialization of politics can be understood to be an ally, not an enemy, of meaningful deliberation in diverse democracies.
International Migration Review, 2013
Do not judge this book by its cover! While the cover depicts a fairly bland image of a circle mad... more Do not judge this book by its cover! While the cover depicts a fairly bland image of a circle made up of red and colored dots, the book's content is empirically rich and astonishingly insightful. These characteristics enable Becoming Multicultural to make a significant contribution to the literature on immigration and citizenship. The book adds, in particular, to a growing body of migration-related literature that compares Canada and Germany. It uses the two countries as case studies to explore what Triadafilopoulos calls the migration-membership dilemma. This dilemma is created by the contradiction between state practices of admitting migrants to fill labor shortages or pursue political aims and the lack of commitment to include these migrants into the national community. Despite Canada's and Germany's different histories, understandings of national belonging, and attitudes toward migration, Triadafilopoulos uncovers similarities in the manner in which immigration and citizenship have unfolded in both countries and seeks to "explain why two countries so determined to limit cultural diversity through the application of restrictive immigration and citizenship policies during the first half of the twentieth century found themselves transformed into highly diverse, multicultural societies by its end" (p. 158). The book contains six chapters. In
Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2015
Understood as a philosophy counselling group rights and concomitant public policies undertaken by... more Understood as a philosophy counselling group rights and concomitant public policies undertaken by governments to preserve and enhance group identities, multiculturalism has little purchase in European immigrant integration debates. However, based on interviews with various actors engaged in policies that affect immigrants in the Netherlands and Germany, we argue that multiculturalism remains a going concern if it is understood as a problem-solving practice through which governments acknowledge and work with ethnic and religious groups to address issues of mutual concern, particularly on issues related to gender. We label this 'multicultural governance' and argue that it supports the principal ends of integration policy: the socialization of immigrants into prevailing national languages, norms and institutions.
In the years since unification, citizenship politics in Germany has been driven by a clash of two... more In the years since unification, citizenship politics in Germany has been driven by a clash of two variants of civic republicanism. Whereas liberal egalitarian republicans view citizenship as a means of facilitating immigrants’ integration, statist communitarians argue that citizenship should only be awarded as a result of their successful integration. These divergent ideological positions have mapped onto existing party cleavages, with expansive liberal egalitarian positions on jus soli, dual citizenship, and integration being embraced by the Greens and the SPD and opposed by conservatives in the CDU/CSU. CDU moderates and the FDP have struggled to reconcile their affinity for liberal egalitarian principles with the demands of party and coalition solidarity. This politicization of intra-republican differences has led to strained solutions that awkwardly capture both sides’ positions, most notably the 1999 citizenship law’s peculiar combination of an extremely liberal jus soli provis...
Ethnicities, 2019
Debates over religious accommodation in liberal-democratic states are common. I offer a framework... more Debates over religious accommodation in liberal-democratic states are common. I offer a framework for making sense of their often-abrupt eruption, unpredictable dynamics and variation across jurisdictions, arguing that they are best understood as instances of competitive group boundary construction and maintenance. Religious believers' interest in honouring their group's customs is not only based on individual devotion but also reflects their interest in maintaining a sense of coherent religious group identity. Liberal-democratic societies simultaneously create liberal-democratic subjects, through public schooling and other means, including immigrant integration policies. These parallel processes of group formation can intersect, sparking conflict. I outline the social mechanisms that generate conflict, illustrating my argument through reference to the debate over ritual male circumcision in Germany.
German Politics, 2016
There is widespread agreement among scholars that the 1990s and 2000s witnessed a re-orientation ... more There is widespread agreement among scholars that the 1990s and 2000s witnessed a re-orientation of immigrant policies across western European countries. According to the literature, this re-orientation featured a new and strong focus on encouraging the adjustment of immigrants to the mainstream cultures and political norms of receiving societies. Our article looks back on the developments in Germany since the mid-1990s to examine these assumptions. We maintain that immigrant and immigration policy has shifted since the 1990s but that this shift is not as clear cut as many academic discussions would suggest. While there were good reasons to diagnose a (re) turn to assimilationism in the first half of the 2000s, we overestimated the strength and persistence of such trends. We draw on Rogers Brubaker's terminology in referring to current policies as a ‘new differentialism’. The new differentialism represents a novel trend in policy, reflective of broader societal transformations. These developments may complicate the place of the ‘German case’ in cross-national research – it has outgrown its status as Europe's maligned ethno-exclusionary pariah and does not easily conform to models focusing on the departure from, or transformation of, multiculturalism.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, May 16, 2011
What are the contemporary 'limits of the liberal state' with respect to immigration, citizenship ... more What are the contemporary 'limits of the liberal state' with respect to immigration, citizenship and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in contemporary Europe? The papers in this special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies examine how recent developments in Europe raise new questions regarding the relationship between liberalism, migration, identity and belonging. In this introduction, we identify three major themes that run through the papers in the issue*the use of liberal norms by states for exclusionary purposes; the possibility of the emergence of 'illiberal liberalism'; and the extent to which identity politics and policy-making may be increasingly transcending and transforming the limits of the liberal democratic state in Europe. After briefly presenting these three themes, we summarise the arguments of the individual authors and suggest possible directions for future research.
Social Politics, 20(1): 109-136, 2013
In this paper, we analyze Dutch policy debates that focused on the development of a distinct prog... more In this paper, we analyze Dutch policy debates that focused on the development of a distinct program to advance the social and economic participation of ethnic minority women (where this label captures immigrant women from non-Western countries). Drawing on intersectional analysis and theories of ethnic boundary formation, we argue that the parliamentary debates surrounding this policy program framed the social problems of these women to effectively reduce a diverse range of ethnic minority women into a narrowly defined group of Muslim women. Referencing multiple axes of difference, the adopted policies encouraged women to overcome ethnic distinctions and gender inequality by abandoning their (imputed) religious practices. Parliamentary debates on these policies generated bright boundaries and assimilationist approaches to the integration of ethnic minority women. In our conclusion, we suggest how our framework might be applied to inform analyses of integration policy making and bou...
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Papers by Phil Triadafilopoulos