Hermann Kurthen

Germany at the crossroads: national identity and the challenges of immigration.

In both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, German history was characterized by shifting political borders and territorial expansions and contractions. These changes correlate with extreme phases in the definition of nationhood: very broad, inclusive ones and very narrow, exclusive ones. Current problems with immigration and nationhood date back to the origins of the nation-building. They reflect unresolved contradictions between exclusive ideas of the nation-state and inclusive ideas of republican and universal principles of individual human and civil rights; between rigidly interpreted citizenship regulations and a liberal asylum law; and between the official notion of national homogeneity and increasing diversity created by immigration and refugee movements. The unforeseen consequences of unification, particularly increased immigration, have exacerbated existing tensions between exclusive and inclusive notions of nationhood. German democracy and political culture is challenged to readjust and redefine national interests and identity in the 1990s. In this process Germany must adapt to its status as an immigration society and the unavoidable consequences of increasing ethnocultural diversity.

Antisemitism and xenophobia in Germany after unification

Since unification, Germany has undergone profound changes, including the reawakening of xenophobic hate crime, anti-Semitic incidents, and racist violence. This book will present the most recent findings on German public opinion, private attitudes, official policies, and right wing political developments. It will examine the dimensions, sources of, and remedies to anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

Immigrant integration: comparative evidence from the United States and Germany

Abstract In the comparative literature on immigrant integration, Germany and the United States are frequently placed in distinct and opposing regime categories. Using cross-sectional data from the 1997 German Socio-Economic Panel and the 1997 Panel of Income Dynamics, we compare the process of integration of four generational cohorts of Turks in Germany and Mexicans in the United States, focusing on markets, welfare, and culture. The comparative analysis of the data supports Gary Freemans ‘patchwork’ hypothesis that integration in Western democracies is happening not monolithically, or in a linear fashion, but rather in the form of irregular patchworks. The specific patchworks revealed by our data include some progress toward integration, in particular in the market sector, as well as stagnation, and perhaps exclusion, in others.

Do International Online Collaborative Learning Projects Impact Ethnocentrism

Preparing students for success in a globalized world invites new approaches. Online collaboration between students from different countries via globally networked learning environments (GNLEs) is one such approach. This article presents the results of a six-semester study beginning in 2006 of international online project collaborations between undergraduate students at a university in the United States and in Poland. The two universities and student populations involved have very different learning environments, backgrounds, and programs, raising interesting questions about the impact of such international collaborations on student intercultural awareness. Focusing on one aspect of such awareness – ethnocentrism – this article reports on a quasi-experimental study using James Neulieps 22-item Generalized Ethnocentrism (GENE) scale, designed to measure ethnocentrism. The findings suggest that the international online collaborations reported in this study did not have any statistically significant impact on ethnocentrism. With the high level of interest in GNLE approaches, these findings point to the need for more study to better understand the attitudinal effects of international online collaboration.

Germany’s Coming Out: Citizenship and Immigration Reform since Unification

Nations are defined as populations endowed by specific citizenship rights within a bounded territory under the control of a political regime. The degree of existing rules of inclusion and exclusion, the shared collective self-definitions, and popular practices determine the easiness of how boundaries can be crossed by insiders and outsiders.

Einwandererintegration im Spiegel der U.S. Amerikanischen Forschung

Obwohl die Vereinigten Staaten uber zweihundert Jahre mit Masseneinwanderung und den damit zusammenhangenden Fragen der Integration (incorporation) Erfahrung haben, begann eine systematische sozialwissenschaftliche Beschaftigung mit Migrationsproblemen und ihre theoretisch-empirische Durchdringung erst vor weniger als 100 Jahren mit Robert Park’s einflussreichem Assimilationskonzept, das — obschon von den herrschenden Vorurteilen seiner Zeit gepragt — bis in die 70er Jahre des 20. Jahrhunderts grosen Einfluss auf die Forschung hatte. Grunde fur diese relativ lange Periode theoretischer Stagnation sind u.a. der spurbare Ruckgang der amerikanischen Einwanderungszahlen als Ergebnis restriktiver Einwanderungspolitik und die Folgen der Weltwirtschaftskrise 1929. Auch nach dem Ende des 2. Weltkriegs hielt die Phase relativ niedriger Einwanderung bis in die 60er Jahre an. Der uberwiegend europaische Charakter der Einwanderung, darunter viele antikommunistische Fluchtlinge und Personen mit burgerlichem Hintergrund, gaben keinen Anlass, am gangigen Assimilationskonzept zu zweifeln.

The Canadian experience with multiculturalism and employment equity: Lessons for Europe

Abstract Canada has been at the forefront of states that have embraced official policies which not only respect but encourage pluralism and equality policies within public institutions and the surrounding society. This article examines some of the pros and cons of Canadas legislated and state‐supported multiculturalism and equal employment opportunity policy. Whereas the latter intends to address prejudice, discrimination, and inequality in the workplace, multiculturalism supports the expression and retention of voluntary collective identification reflecting a pragmatic response to practical problems for reasons of national identity, political unity, economic advantage, demographic need, and domestic peace as well as for international status and prestige. After providing an overview of major milestones and the rationale of the Canadian brand of multiculturalism and equity policy, this article explores how these concepts have been legitimised by proponents and criticised by adversaries as an ideology, ins...