Do Multiculturalism Policies Erode the Welfare State (Working Paper 33)

The past 30 years have witnessed a dramatic change in the way Western democracies deal with ethnic minorities. In the past, ethnic diversity was often seen as a threat to political stability, and minorities were subject to a range of policies intended to assimilate or marginalize them. Today, many Western democracies have adopted a more accommodating approach. This is reflected in the widespread adoption of multiculturalism policies for immigrant groups, the acceptance of territorial autonomy and language rights for national minorities, and the recognition of land claims and selfgovernment rights for indigenous peoples. We refer to these policies as “multiculturalism policies” or MCPs. The adoption of MCPs has been controversial, for two reasons. The first is a philosophical critique, which argues that MCPs are inherently inconsistent with basic liberal-democratic principles. Since the mid-1990s, however, this philosophical debate has been supplemented by a second argument: namely, that MCPs make it more difficult to sustain a robust Welfare State (hereafter WS). Critics worry that such policies erode the interpersonal trust, social solidarity and political coalitions that sustain a strongly redistributive WS. This paper reviews the reasons why critics believe that MCPs weaken political support for redistribution, and then examines empirically whether the adoption of MCPs has, in fact, been associated with erosion of the WS. This examination involves two steps: we develop a taxonomy of MCPs and classify Western democracies as “strong”, “modest” or “weak” in their level of MCPs. We then examine whether the strength of MCPs is associated with the erosion of the WS during the 1980s and 1990s. The evolution of the WS is measured through change in four indicators: social spending as a percentage of GDP; the redistributive impact of taxes and transfers; levels of child poverty; and the level of income inequality. We find no evidence of a consistent relationship between the adoption of MCPs and the erosion of the WS. Our analysis has limits, and we hope it stimulates further research. Nevertheless, the preliminary evidence presented here is clear: the case advanced by critics of MCPs is not supported. The growing ethnic diversity of Western societies has generated pressures for the construction of new and more inclusive forms of citizenship and national identity. The evidence in this paper suggests that debates over the appropriateness of multiculturalism policies as one response to this diversity should not be pre-empted by unsupported fears about their impact on the WS.

Minorities, Measured Cognitive Skills and the Earnings of Canadians (Working Paper 26)

This paper uses the Statistics Canada Survey of Literacy Skills in Daily Use (LSUDA) to investigate minority-“white”(i.e., non-minority) income differences and the role education and English/French literacy and numeracy skills play in those patterns. There are three principal sets of findings. First, among males, some visible minority groups have substantially lower levels of the measured language and number skills than whites and other more economically successful minorities, and in some cases these differences play a significant role in explaining the observed income patterns. The minority-white income gaps are, however, much smaller for women, and the literacy and numeracy variables do not have much of a role to play in explaining those differences. Second, for men, the minority-white income gaps are largely confined to immigrants, and there are no significant differences amongst the native-born once various factors which affect incomes (including education and the literacy and numeracy measures) are taken into account. For women, though, minority-white income differences only emerge for certain Canadian-born groups when they are differentiated from immigrants, for whom different gaps become apparent. Finally, the measured returns to literacy and numeracy differ significantly by ethnic group and sex. Various implications of the findings are discussed.

Accommodating Muslim Minorities in Secular Societies: Public Education in England, Scotland, Ontario, and Quebec

Abstract This thesis examines one of the most sensitive challenges facing contemporary democracies: the accommodation of Muslim minorities in public institutions and services. It focuses on the field of education, and on two particular issues: the public funding of Islamic schools and the accommodation of Muslim needs in public secular schools. The analysis is based on an examination of outcomes in four jurisdictions that differ significantly in the level of accommodation that has emerged: England, Scotland, Ontario, and Quebec. I seek to explain why such variation in outcomes exists among these four cases. I draw on four bodies of literature to underpin the theoretical framework: historical institutionalism, political mobilization by civil society, political parties, and ideationalism. My argument can be summarized simply; historic church-state settlements, unique in each case, are the most important factor explaining the variation in outcomes in England, Scotland, Ontario, and Quebec. In some cases, the historic church-state template is incrementally adapted to accommodate Muslim minorities. In other cases, relatively little accommodation occurs and the path-dependent trajectory of church-state relations remains entrenched. While the historic church-state template is a necessary factor in the explanation, it does not fully account for the variation. For a more complete picture, I demonstrate that there are several additional key factors that also shape the outcomes: first, national identity and public attitudes towards immigration and immigrants; second, the extent of mobilization by political agents, such as civil society organizations and historic churches; and third, the response of political parties to demands by Muslims for institutional accommodation. Ultimately, I conclude that Muslims in these jurisdictions are receiving some accommodation, but the process is slow and partial. This thesis makes important theoretical and empirical contributions to the discussion of Muslim integration in liberal democratic states. First, a framework has yet to be developed that considers the theoretical implications of institutional accommodation of Muslims; I address this gap. Second, this research demonstrates the utility of historical institutionalism in explaining the adaptation of church-state templates to accommodate Muslims’ demands. Last, this study makes an original contribution by comparing the cases of England, Scotland, Ontario, and Quebec in the accommodation of Muslims in education. A comparison of Canada with the United Kingdom has not yet been done.