Friday, March 14, 2014
Capitol (Omni Shoreham)
The past fifteen years in Europe has seen the widespread adoption of mandatory integration requirements, defined by what are known as civic integration policies. These policies have introduced civic education courses, integration tests, contract commitments, and other requirements primarily at the stages of obtaining long-term residence and citizenship. Governments tout these policies as a means to "promote and also demand the integration of immigrants," particularly in terms of improving immigrant opportunities in the labor market. Do they? Several studies have examined the effects of requirements on obtaining these legal statuses, in terms of whether they are control mechanisms or not, but none have looked at the effects of policy on integration itself. This study examines the effects of these membership policies on immigrant socioeconomic and political integration outcomes. This study makes use of the Civic Integration Policy Index, or CIVIX (Goodman 2010; forthcoming) as well as ESS data to illustrate divergent effects of civic integration policy. In specific, we observe positive effects of integration requirements on political outcomes, but not indicators of social or economic integration. These observations suggest that civic integration is producing moderately positive outcomes, but not in the policy areas for which it is ostensibly designed. The paper concludes with policy suggestions for future adaptation of civic integration.
