Synopses & Reviews
In a world of nation-states, international migration raisesquestions of membership: Should foreigners be admitted to the nationalspace? If so, according to what criteria and for what ends? And shouldthey and their children be granted citizenship? Canada andGermany's responses to these questions during the first half ofthe twentieth century consisted of discriminatory immigration andcitizenship policies aimed at harnessing migration for economic endswhile minimizing its costs. Yet, by the end of the century, theadmission, settlement, and incorporation of previously excluded groupshad transformed both countries into highly diverse multiculturalsocieties.
Becoming Multicultural explains how this remarkable shiftcame about. Triadafilopoulos argues that world-historical events andepoch-defining processes -- including the Holocaust, decolonization,and the emergence of global human rights culture -- gave rise to amarkedly different normative context after the Second World War. Thesechanges in global norms made the maintenance of established membershipregimes difficult to defend, opening the way for the liberalization ofCanada and Germany's immigration and citizenship policies.
Combining sophisticated theoretical reflection and careful empiricalanalysis, this thought-provoking book sheds light on the dynamics ofmembership politics and policy making in contemporaryliberal-democratic countries.
Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos is an assistant professorof Political Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Review
Dissecting the politics of membership in North America and Europe, Triadafilopoulos claims a theoretically sound and an empirically fascinating perspective for the comparative study of immigration. His timely book challenges established wisdom on trajectories of incorporation, enabling us to ask new questions about citizenship and belonging.
- Thomas Faist, author of The Transnational in Migration
Review
Richly researched, concisely written,
Becoming Multicultural deftly illuminates the ways global normative contexts, the choices of political leaders, and the impacts of political institutions have fostered surprising convergences, despite enduring differences, in the evolving civic policies of Canada and Germany. A major contribution to comparative scholarship on citizenship, immigration, and modern political development.
- Rogers M. Smith, author of Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History
Review
Triadafilopoulos's lucid comparative analysis of multiculturalism leads readers to the larger issue of the buffeting of the contemporary state system by evolving international norms -- a product of the end of colonialism, of globalization, and of the massive migration of peoples seeking better lives. By focusing on Canada and Germany, he brilliantly highlights the post-imperial dialectic between individual states and the normative basis of the international order.
- Alan C. Cairns, author of Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State
Review
In a surprising but very satisfying comparison of Canada and Germany, Triadafilopoulos expertly weaves an analysis of high-minded ideals with gritty politics to explain how anti-racism norms and human rights have mattered for immigration policy. A beautifully written account of the transformations in entry and membership over the twentieth century.
- Irene Bloemraad, author of Becoming a Citizen: Incorporating Immigrants and Refugees in the United States and Canada
Synopsis
During the first half of the twentieth century, Canada's andGermany's responses to questions of national membership consistedof discriminatory policies aimed at harnessing migration for economicends. Yet, by the end of the century, both countries were transformedinto highly diverse multicultural societies. How did this remarkableshift come about? Triadafilopoulos argues that, after the war, globalhuman rights norms intersected with domestic political identities andinstitutions, opening the way for the liberalization of Canada'sand Germany's immigration and citizenship policies. His is athought-provoking analysis that sheds light on the dynamics ofmembership politics and policy making in contemporaryliberal-democratic countries.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Building Walls, Bounding Nations
3 Between Two Worlds
4 Dismantling White Canada
5 Guest Workers into Germans
6 Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index