How immigration is affecting countries national identity through implications of globalisation and multiculturalism?
Author: Holly Thornton
2 Commentries
Key words: Australia, United Kingdom, Globalisation, Multiculturalism, Immigration
Abstract: A numerous amount of countries around the world are slowly loosing there national identities due to immigration and a change of globalisation. Due to more countries now being multicultural it’s much easier to see the blend of different people living together in one society, but is this good or bad? This conference will compare Australia and the United Kingdom as case studies who both use different approaches towards maintaining their national identity.
Throughout the globe, countries have for many years debated the implications of immigration and multiculturalism and how they are impacting upon their national identity. Throughout this conference paper named case studies in specific countries will be used to discuss how they deal with immigration in the correct way and overcome social and political issues. The links of globalisation, multiculturalism and immigration, creates constant social and political debates on weather immigration should be allowed more freely or weather higher restrictions should be in place to try and reduce the number of people moving and living permanently in other countries.
Immigration is the main social and political issue within this conference paper which is described as foreign citizens who stay live permanently in a country with any purpose apart from tourism are considered as immigrants, (Triandafyllidou, 2007:155). Many countries around the world are now worrying that there national identity is slowly being taken away due to a multicultural society with many ethnic backgrounds living together as one union. Some countries are starting to fear that their country will no longer be seen as a place they come from and grow up at but instead just a place they live along with many other people from around the world.
Immigration and multiculturalism causes issues globally on a day to day basis with immigration playing a central role in the search for national identities with many countries around the world, (Grant, 1998:127). Throughout the years there has been a mixed number of attitudes towards ethnic minorities including ethno-racial and ethno-religious minorities and now due to this stricter control of immigration has taken place in many countries, (Lesińska, 2014:37). Immigration and multiculturalism do create social and political arguments in today society, but it is also the adaptation of globalisation that has problematized not only citizenship but also the issue of national identity, (Grant, 1998:127), together these three society issues are creating a mixed debate of discussions. Dual-citizenship is an on-going argument where many of us feel that we should all only belong to one single nation-state but others see it as a personal attribute to be used for the construction of self-identity and individual choice, (Gustafson, 2002:463).
Australia is one of the earliest countries to democratize and rejected everyone who did not belong ethnically to the model of the Australian nation. This involved not only the exclusion of ‘foreigners’ but also the exclusion of many of those who lived within the territorial boundaries of the state, (Grant, 1998:127). This saw characteristics of racism and created uproar of debates between immigrants who wanted to move to Australia on a permanent basis. Australia’s state wanted to maintain its racist approach to ‘outsiders’ and encouraged to discard their cultural identities and encouraged people to ‘become Australian’, (Grant, 1998:130). From a conducted survey, 43% supported the fact that they wanted a reduction to the current immigration level and intake in the country due to low levels of trust and safety, (Markus, 2014:10). The Challenging Racism project reported that in the Sydney Statistical Region, 56.6% of the population is ‘anti-Muslim’, compared with 54.4% in New South Wales and 48.6% in Australia. This is showing that Australia is discriminating against immigrants entering and living in their country which is seen as a concern to our society, (Markus, 2014:13).
Also known as the ‘community of communities’ the UK has worked closely towards a multicultural model than many other continental countries, (LesiÅ„ska, 2014:42). . In 2013, the new regulations stated that; “The English language requirement will be removed entirely for Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) migrants. This change to the rules will mean that individuals who extend their leaves beyond a period of three years will not need to undertake an English language testâ€, (Lewis, 2013). Every year, the UK’s government seem to reduce the regulations even further to encourage more immigrants to live in the country, whereas in comparison to Australia they are actually making it much more difficult for immigrants to move to their country. New immigration in the UK of non-British citizens has been on the constant increase with the largest increase of 41% between 1996 and 2000, (Dell’Olio, 2004:109).
So is it best to be multicultural or limit immigration in countries around the world? The outcome of allowing immigration creates a positive ethnic image on the country that allows it and makes everyone feel equal and valued to be allowed to live in a country that they are not originally from. Even though this is the case, many countries now feel that they are losing their national identity as we are now all living as a blend of societies from different backgrounds. It’s important that the balance is there on letting immigrants into different countries but not allowing everyone and anyone so the national identity of the country doesn’t disappear.
Most Important References:
Grant, R. (1998). The implications of globalization in the construction of the Australian 'nation': multiculturalism and democracy. Contemporary Politics. 4 (2), 127-132.
Newman, J, B (2013). British Journal of Political Science. Cambridge: FirstView Article. 1-4.
United Nations. (2009). UN population estimates and projections, database query. Available: http://esa.un.org/unpp/. Last accessed 27/04/2014.
Abstract: A numerous amount of countries around the world are slowly loosing there national identities due to immigration and a change of globalisation. Due to more countries now being multicultural it’s much easier to see the blend of different people living together in one society, but is this good or bad? This conference will compare Australia and the United Kingdom as case studies who both use different approaches towards maintaining their national identity.
Throughout the globe, countries have for many years debated the implications of immigration and multiculturalism and how they are impacting upon their national identity. Throughout this conference paper named case studies in specific countries will be used to discuss how they deal with immigration in the correct way and overcome social and political issues. The links of globalisation, multiculturalism and immigration, creates constant social and political debates on weather immigration should be allowed more freely or weather higher restrictions should be in place to try and reduce the number of people moving and living permanently in other countries.
Immigration is the main social and political issue within this conference paper which is described as foreign citizens who stay live permanently in a country with any purpose apart from tourism are considered as immigrants, (Triandafyllidou, 2007:155). Many countries around the world are now worrying that there national identity is slowly being taken away due to a multicultural society with many ethnic backgrounds living together as one union. Some countries are starting to fear that their country will no longer be seen as a place they come from and grow up at but instead just a place they live along with many other people from around the world.
Immigration and multiculturalism causes issues globally on a day to day basis with immigration playing a central role in the search for national identities with many countries around the world, (Grant, 1998:127). Throughout the years there has been a mixed number of attitudes towards ethnic minorities including ethno-racial and ethno-religious minorities and now due to this stricter control of immigration has taken place in many countries, (Lesińska, 2014:37). Immigration and multiculturalism do create social and political arguments in today society, but it is also the adaptation of globalisation that has problematized not only citizenship but also the issue of national identity, (Grant, 1998:127), together these three society issues are creating a mixed debate of discussions. Dual-citizenship is an on-going argument where many of us feel that we should all only belong to one single nation-state but others see it as a personal attribute to be used for the construction of self-identity and individual choice, (Gustafson, 2002:463).
Australia is one of the earliest countries to democratize and rejected everyone who did not belong ethnically to the model of the Australian nation. This involved not only the exclusion of ‘foreigners’ but also the exclusion of many of those who lived within the territorial boundaries of the state, (Grant, 1998:127). This saw characteristics of racism and created uproar of debates between immigrants who wanted to move to Australia on a permanent basis. Australia’s state wanted to maintain its racist approach to ‘outsiders’ and encouraged to discard their cultural identities and encouraged people to ‘become Australian’, (Grant, 1998:130). From a conducted survey, 43% supported the fact that they wanted a reduction to the current immigration level and intake in the country due to low levels of trust and safety, (Markus, 2014:10). The Challenging Racism project reported that in the Sydney Statistical Region, 56.6% of the population is ‘anti-Muslim’, compared with 54.4% in New South Wales and 48.6% in Australia. This is showing that Australia is discriminating against immigrants entering and living in their country which is seen as a concern to our society, (Markus, 2014:13).
Also known as the ‘community of communities’ the UK has worked closely towards a multicultural model than many other continental countries, (LesiÅ„ska, 2014:42). . In 2013, the new regulations stated that; “The English language requirement will be removed entirely for Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) migrants. This change to the rules will mean that individuals who extend their leaves beyond a period of three years will not need to undertake an English language testâ€, (Lewis, 2013). Every year, the UK’s government seem to reduce the regulations even further to encourage more immigrants to live in the country, whereas in comparison to Australia they are actually making it much more difficult for immigrants to move to their country. New immigration in the UK of non-British citizens has been on the constant increase with the largest increase of 41% between 1996 and 2000, (Dell’Olio, 2004:109).
So is it best to be multicultural or limit immigration in countries around the world? The outcome of allowing immigration creates a positive ethnic image on the country that allows it and makes everyone feel equal and valued to be allowed to live in a country that they are not originally from. Even though this is the case, many countries now feel that they are losing their national identity as we are now all living as a blend of societies from different backgrounds. It’s important that the balance is there on letting immigrants into different countries but not allowing everyone and anyone so the national identity of the country doesn’t disappear.
Most Important References:
Grant, R. (1998). The implications of globalization in the construction of the Australian 'nation': multiculturalism and democracy. Contemporary Politics. 4 (2), 127-132.
Newman, J, B (2013). British Journal of Political Science. Cambridge: FirstView Article. 1-4.
United Nations. (2009). UN population estimates and projections, database query. Available: http://esa.un.org/unpp/. Last accessed 27/04/2014.