Restrictive Integration Policies and the Construction of the Migrant as ‘Unwilling to Integrate’: The Case of Germany

Abstract

Since the middle of the last decade, the notion of ‘migrants being unwilling to integrate’ (Integrationsunwillig) - and sometimes, in a more active form, of ‘migrants refusing to integrate’ (Integrationsverweigernd) - has increasingly come into focus in migration and integration debates in Germany. Pointing to the commitment of migrants to cultural val- ues that might be contradictory to values in the receiving society — for instance, gender equality — the ‘refusal of migrants to integrate’ notion is aimed mainly at Turkish and other Muslim populations. However, as will be demonstrated below, it actually embraces the whole migrant population. Despite the nebulosity of these notions, politicians have presented quantifications of the ‘unwillingness’ of migrants to integrate ranging from 40 per cent of the migrant population, as the president of the Committee for Home Affairs of the Federal Parliament maintained (Bosbach, 2009), and 10 to 15 per cent, according to the Minister of Interior De Maiziere (Bundesweites Integrationsprogramm, 2010). Oth- ers contradicted these statistics by pointing to the figure of 98 per cent of newcomer migrants attending integration courses, thus demonstrat- ing a willingness to integrate (Bade, 2010). In line with the spirit of the neo-liberal ideology that highlights the responsibility of the individual for her/his situation and fate, this assumption emerged and stabilized within the framework of a public discourse marked by hostility towards migrants, spreading moral panic and legitimizing a more restrictive and Controlling integration policy.