Abstract
This paper aims to establish connections between the theoretical debates on migration and multiculturalism. In the former, there are two dominant positions: the open borders approach and another approach that argues for the legitimacy of border control based on several considerations (we will call it controlled borders approach). In the second, based on the autonomy granted to groups, a distinction is made between strong and weak multiculturalism. It is generally believed that an open borders approach is connected to strong multiculturalism and that a controlled borders approach should be conjoined with weak multiculturalism. This paper prompts us to consider the possibility of developing further theoretical options and, as a result, enriches the debate by showing possibilities that have been largely overlooked so far. In particular, the paper sketches two unprecedented positions, one coming from the combination of open borders approach and weak multiculturalism, and another coming from controlled borders approach and strong multiculturalism.
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Notes
One could give dozens of examples. Here, however, it will suffice to mention Joseph Carens, who in Carens (2000) dealt primarily with how institutions accommodate cultural diversity (i.e., multiculturalism), while in Carens (2013) he addressed the issues posed by migration. Analogously, if we consider David Miller, Miller (1995) deals with cultural diversity and Miller (2016) with migration. Among those who have addressed in the same work both the issues at the center of this paper, it is worth mentioning Gillian Brock. See Brock 2020, especially Chapter 9.
Obviously, the range of problems that multiculturalism deals with is broader. Indeed, if we accept that multiculturalism is concerned with the response of institutions to the challenges posed by cultural diversity, migration is only one source of that cultural diversity. Diversity, represented for example by the plurality of religious faiths and moral and political traditions, is something that in a liberal democratic state exists prior to and independent of population movements. Indeed, all this plurality is somewhat endemic to a liberal-democratic society that protects individual rights and freedoms.
The Multiculturalism Policy Index for immigrant minorities has been built by using height indicators: ‘(i) constitutional, legislative or parliamentary affirmation of multiculturalism, at the central and/or regional and municipal levels; (ii) the adoption of multiculturalism in school curriculum; (iii) the inclusion of ethnic representation/sensitivity in the mandate of public media or media licensing; (iv) exemptions from dress codes, either by statute or by court cases; (v) allowing of dual citizenship; (vi) the funding of ethnic group organizations to support cultural activities; (vii) the funding of bilingual education or mother-tongue instruction; (viii) affirmative action for disadvantaged immigrant groups' (Banting and Kymlicka (2013), p. 583).
Of course, Kukathas is not the only theorist who can be considered as an advocate of 1). Among the many scholars that we can include in the camp of those advocating 1), we can find Jospeh Carens. See Carens (1987) and 2013 for an example of open borders approach to migration. His thoughts on cultural diversity, that we can consider as an expression of strong multiculturalism in the sense here specified, are systematized in Carens (2000). It is important to note that both Kukathas and Carens did not explicitly formulate what we have labeled here as position 1). Both have been concerned, at different stages of their scholarly production, with both multiculturalism and migration, but the way these concepts have been related is a result of our interpretation.
In analogy to what we said about 1), there are also other versions of 4) besides Kymlicka's. For example, David Miller's (2005, 2015, 2016) controlled borders approach accords with his liberal nationalism elaborated in other works (Miller 1995). As we did in the previous note, it should be made clear here that establishing relationships between the works of these authors in the area of multiculturalism and migration is the result of our interpretive work.
See Melidoro (2020), Chapters 2 and 5.
I must thank an anonymous reviewer of this journal for raising this point.
Of course, as already stated in Section II, open borders do not equate to no borders at all.
Our structure/character distinction in reference to national community seems to recall in some ways the same distinction Will Kymlicka makes in reference to the protection of a culture. However, when Kymlicka talks about the character of a culture, he refers to those norms, values, and institutions that distinguish a community at a certain time. Structure, on the other hand, indicates culture as a context of choice. See Kymlicka (1989), pp. 166–167.
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Melidoro, D. Multiculturalism and Migration: Reconfiguring the Debate. Res Publica 29, 561–576 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-023-09598-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-023-09598-z