The CDU and the Leitkultur Debate: An Analysis of Angela Merkel’s Integration Discourse Before and After the 2015 Syrian Refugee Crisis

Natalia Bogado () and Tamara Wolf ()
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Natalia Bogado: Department of Social, Environmental and Economic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau
Tamara Wolf: Department of Social, Environmental and Economic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau

Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2024, vol. 25, issue 4, No 19, 2123-2141

Abstract: Abstract In the late 1990s, the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) problematised culturally diverse immigration and asylum and emphasised the importance of cultural homogeneity for peaceful social coexistence. This position was embodied in the Leitkultur debate—a body of political and media discourses that emphasises the need for ethnic minorities to assimilate into the national culture to reduce intergroup distinctions. However, in 2015, the government led by CDU’s Angela Merkel opened Germany’s doors to over one million refugees (mainly from Syria). To what extent was this shift towards a liberal policy accompanied by a shift from assimilation to multicultural frames to discuss the issue of immigration and asylum? To answer this question, the authors used a corpus-driven mixed method of qualitative and quantitative discourse analyses to analyse and compare Merkel’s use of assimilation and multicultural frames in 14 discourses presented at the Integration Summits as transcribed in the Federal Government’s official website across two periods: from 2010 to 2014 (before the crisis) and 2015 to 2020 (after the crisis). This study revealed that, despite Germany’s generous response to the so-called ‘Syrian Refugee Crisis’, the problematisation of cultural diversity—crucial to the Leitkultur debate—is at the heart of Merkel’s integration discourse throughout the periods analysed.

Keywords: Assimilation; Multiculturalism; Political discourse; Immigration; Refugees (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s12134-024-01159-4

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