The research question is very interesting and promising. The background and policy development are studied so well and introduced in such detail! But I found a little hard to sort out independent and dependent variables in the paper. It is hypothesized that Muslims have “a general trend towards political integration to their societies of residence over loyalties to other state/ethnic affiliations or global religious identities.” (p.2) How are you going to test it by doing surveys? Will you compare Muslims with other ethnic groups to see whether this trend of Muslims indeed affects government policy towards different immigrants/ethnic/racial groups? Will you consider the interaction between factors at the structural level (e.g. government’s previous naturalization/immigration policy) and at the group level (e.g. capabilities of localization, openness towards minority cultures etc) to account for the variance in current policies? It will be a great proposal for empirical study if explanatory factors and causal mechanism are further specified.
I really enjoyed this paper, a very interesting topic. You describe how differences in the party landscape may have played a role in the shaping of immigration debates. I would be interested in knowing whether any specific sectors of society, unions, for example, played any significant role in helping sustain the electoral gains of Denmark's right and center-right parties (and not in Sweden), or if support was diffuse. Also, I have heard from many sources (anecdotally) that displaying of the swedish flag is considered very bad taste in sweden (except on their christmas trees and in sporting events) being equated with racism and chauvinism. It would be interesting to see if the same is true in Denmark, since feelings towards the flag would seem to be a pretty good indicator of feelings of national identities.
Nara - as a Dane - I can tell you that, as far as I am aware, it isn't considered bad taste at all to display the Danish flag. Indeed, it is displayed quite often in everyday life. Not that you see it on every street corner, but you're likely to come across it once or twice. In some instances I don't think it is driven by a need to display "Danishness" or signal identity or something along those lines. It may partly be because of that, but it seems more to be something that is an ingrained part of the culture (i.e. not primarily fuelled by immigration as such). That said, displaying the flag - especially during sporting events, but also on other occasions - surely is a reflection of national identity and a sense of pride in that (we're a small country).
The research question is very interesting and promising. The background and policy development are studied so well and introduced in such detail! But I found a little hard to sort out independent and dependent variables in the paper. It is hypothesized that Muslims have “a general trend towards political integration to their societies of residence over loyalties to other state/ethnic affiliations or global religious identities.” (p.2) How are you going to test it by doing surveys? Will you compare Muslims with other ethnic groups to see whether this trend of Muslims indeed affects government policy towards different immigrants/ethnic/racial groups? Will you consider the interaction between factors at the structural level (e.g. government’s previous naturalization/immigration policy) and at the group level (e.g. capabilities of localization, openness towards minority cultures etc) to account for the variance in current policies? It will be a great proposal for empirical study if explanatory factors and causal mechanism are further specified.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this paper, a very interesting topic. You describe how differences in the party landscape may have played a role in the shaping of immigration debates. I would be interested in knowing whether any specific sectors of society, unions, for example, played any significant role in helping sustain the electoral gains of Denmark's right and center-right parties (and not in Sweden), or if support was diffuse.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have heard from many sources (anecdotally) that displaying of the swedish flag is considered very bad taste in sweden (except on their christmas trees and in sporting events) being equated with racism and chauvinism. It would be interesting to see if the same is true in Denmark, since feelings towards the flag would seem to be a pretty good indicator of feelings of national identities.
Nara - as a Dane - I can tell you that, as far as I am aware, it isn't considered bad taste at all to display the Danish flag. Indeed, it is displayed quite often in everyday life. Not that you see it on every street corner, but you're likely to come across it once or twice. In some instances I don't think it is driven by a need to display "Danishness" or signal identity or something along those lines. It may partly be because of that, but it seems more to be something that is an ingrained part of the culture (i.e. not primarily fuelled by immigration as such). That said, displaying the flag - especially during sporting events, but also on other occasions - surely is a reflection of national identity and a sense of pride in that (we're a small country).
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