The Divergent Convergence of Multiculturalism Policy in the Nordic Countries (1964-2006). Immigratio

The implementation of a policy may occasion the social mobilization of its opponents and a series of events which eventually lead to the achievement of the initial goal. [...] First, the “labour-market effects” or the fear of displacement on the labour market of native workers on the lower end of the job market and the downward pressure on their wages (Borjas 2005). [...] The latter “implies that both the occurrence (presence) and the non-occurrence (absence) of social phenomena require separate analysis and that the presence and absence of conditions might play crucially different roles in bringing about the outcome” (Schneider and Wagemann 2012, p. [...] In Section 2(1) of the 1999 Act on the Integration of Immigrants and the Reception of Asylum Seekers, integration was defined as “‘the personal development of immigrants, aimed at participation in work life and the functioning of society while preserving their language and culture’ (emphasis added)” (Ibid). [...] In 2000, the Parliament Althingi, approved the launching of a Multicultural Centre, the first such initiative under the pressure of “an interest group on cultural diversity in the Westfjords, later named Roots (Rætur)” in collaboration with local councils, the Icelandic Red Cross and the Directorate of Labour in the Westfjords (Fjölmenningarsetur.