Citizenship, integration and universalism: Normative analysis and evaluation of civic integration programmes in Germany and France from a liberal perspective

<p>This paper analyzes the citizenship courses and exams recently introduced in Europe. Does the manner in which each country understands nationhood and citizenship determine the content of these programmes or are there similarities, regardless of the country’s conception of nationhood? How ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Carmen Innerarity
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Asociación Española de Ciencia Política y de la Administración (AECPA) 2016-07-01
Series:Revista Española de Ciencia Política
Subjects:
Online Access:https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/recp/article/view/43911
Description
Summary:<p>This paper analyzes the citizenship courses and exams recently introduced in Europe. Does the manner in which each country understands nationhood and citizenship determine the content of these programmes or are there similarities, regardless of the country’s conception of nationhood? How can we explain these similarities and differences? Do these programmes reflect an commitment to civic values that are inclusionary and universalist<br />rather than on shared cultural traditions that are exclusionary and particularist? Or are there<br />tensions between the normative proposal of liberal universalism and its realization in certain policies of integration? To answer these questions, I propose an analytical framework that enables a normative evaluation of civic integration programmes in France and Germany. I, thus, carry out an in-depth analysis of the programmes, in order to explain their similarities and differences, both from a theoretical perspective and in relation to the political life in each country. Although these countries represent divergent conceptions of nationhood and citizenship, the analysis of their respective programmes reveals many similarities. However, in spite of what one might expect, both bring to light certain paradoxes regarding the liberal and universalist ideal that inspires them, which expose the possible exclusionary consequences of this type of measure, which are<br />hard to reconcile with the liberal democratic values they are trying to protect.</p>
ISSN:1575-6548
2173-9870