Multiculturalism and Citizenship in the Netherlands 102 Igor Boog Contents Introduction: Multiculturalism and Multicultural Citizenship ................................. 1994 Perspectives on National Belonging ........................................................... 1996 National Belonging in the Netherlands: Policies and Debates . ............................... 1998 Perspectives on Social Equality ................................................................ 2001 Social Equality in the Netherlands: Policies and Debates ..................................... 2004 Perspectives on Cultural Distinctiveness ....................................................... 2005 Cultural Distinctiveness in the Netherlands: Policies and Debates ............................ 2007 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 2009 Cross-References ............................................................................... 2011 References ...................................................................................... 2011 Abstract In this chapter, it is argued that to understand the current debates about cultural diversity in the Netherlands, several historical developments have to be taken into account. One development is the contradictory conception of the nation-state, which includes inclusive as well as exclusive criteria for national belonging. Another development is the changing pattern of migration, resulting in an increase of cultural diversity in Dutch society. Finally, the debates take place in the context of the human rights revolution since World War II, in which historical hierarchies are being challenged by emphasizing social equality on various grounds, including ethnic background, gender, and sexual orientation. Part of this human rights revolution is the ideology of multiculturalism, which generally stresses liberal values including social cohesion and national belonging, and social equality of all groups in society. The most defining aspect of multicultur- alism is the recognition of cultural or religious distinctiveness of ethnic and I. Boog (*) Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 1993 S. Ratuva (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2898-5_139 1994 I. Boog cultural groups in society, which is considered to be essential to achieve social cohesion and social equality. In the 1990s and 2000s, this recognition was increasingly criticized in the Netherlands, with mostly right-wing politicians considering certain norms and values of immigrants, especially Muslims, to be incompatible with the norms and values of Dutch natives. In the 2000s, Dutch parliament debated several proposals to prohibit certain cultural or religious expressions of Muslims in the Netherlands, despite the Dutch interpretation of freedom of religion. Currently, this culturalization of citizenship is still evident, mostly from views and statements of right-wing populist and ultra-orthodox Christian politicians. Keywords Citizenship · Multicultural citizenship · Multiculturalism · National belonging · Social equality Introduction: Multiculturalism and Multicultural Citizenship Diversity in society has become an almost inescapable topic in public, political, and scientific debates in the Netherlands and other Western European countries. These debates often concern cultural and ethnic diversity resulting from immigration since World War II. A central topic in these debates is the cultural distinctiveness of immigrants: whether certain practices, norms, and values of immigrants are compatible with the norms and values of the immigrant receiving societies, a question that in the last three decades has been increasingly asked about Muslim immigrants. An example is the debate about whether Muslim immigrants should be allowed to wear a headscarf in school or at work. Another example is the discussion whether multiple citizenship and transnational ties of immigrants undermine their loyalty to the nation-state. In more general terms, the relevance of cultural boundaries of national belonging is increasingly being discussed. Scholars in the Netherlands refer to this process as a culturalization of citizenship, “in which emotions, feelings, norms and values, symbols and traditions (including religion) come to play a pivotal role in defining what can be expected of a Dutch citizen” (Duyvendak 2011: 81). These debates are accompanied by changing discussions, attitudes, policies, and regulations regarding social equality. Since the 1960s, the Netherlands and many other countries developed a wide range of equality policies and antidiscrimination legislation, following United Nations conventions such as the International Conven- tion on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) which came into force in 1969. Scientific studies and political debates increasingly paid attention to the questions of how to prevent discrimination of and achieve social equality for citizens with various group characteristics, including those with a migrant background. A key concept in the contemporary debates about cultural and ethnic diversity is “multiculturalism.” This concept, in use since the 1960s (Kymlicka 2012: 5), refers 102 Multiculturalism and Citizenship in the Netherlands 1995 to specific responses – policies or ideologies – to diversity in society. While there are many different interpretations of this concept, there are three aspects or values that are considered fundamental by most proponents of multiculturalism. These aspects include national belonging (or social cohesion), social equality, and the recognition of cultural distinctiveness. The importance attached to specifically these values indicates that most proponents of multiculturalism advocate a specific liberal form of multiculturalism (Kymlicka 2012, 2014; Modood 2010). These three aspects are closely related to fundamental debates on citizenship and are therefore by some authors referred to as dimensions of “multicultural citizen- ship” (Boog 2014; Modood 2010). The first aspect is the importance that is attached to social cohesion and national belonging in society. The question here is whether citizens of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds are recognized as full members of the national group. In diversity debates, it is questioned, for example, whether “integration” of immigrant citizens is possible while simultaneously respecting (elements of) their cultural or religious distinctiveness. This relates to a fundamental issue in debates on citizenship, as the concept of citizenship in modern nation-states always “entails a tension between inclusion and exclusion” of individuals (Bloemraad et al. 2008: 155). The second aspect of multiculturalism is the importance attached to non- discrimination principles that concern social equality of the various groups in society, not only on grounds of race or ethnic background but also on grounds such as gender and sexual orientation. This, of course, relates to the fact that legal citizenship in Western countries entails the right to equality, which is expressed in regulations and policies regarding equal treatment and nondiscrimination. These first two aspects are closely related to the third and most defining aspect of multiculturalism, which is the recognition of cultural distinctiveness of the various groups in society. Proponents of multiculturalism argue that this recognition of cultural distinctions, but also of other distinctions such as gender and sexual orientation, is essential to achieve social cohesion and equality (Parekh 2000). An important reason for this recognition is, according to these authors, that the state and other institutions may strive for “neutrality” and being “difference-blind” but are always susceptible to an explicit or implicit bias towards the majority group. These aspects and their interrelationships are discussed in more depth in the next sections. The primary focus in this chapter is on the multiculturalism debates in the Netherlands. Before the discussions of these debates below, analytical perspectives will be provided on the concepts used. This chapter is largely based on research carried out in the period 2010–2014, and on courses on “race” and diversity taught between 2015 and 2018 at Leiden University. For a more extensive discussion of the issues covered in this chapter, see Boog (2014). It is important to note that various terms are and have been used in the Nether- lands to describe immigrants and Dutch citizens of various origins. In this chapter, the terms “native Dutch” and “immigrants” or “immigrants and their descendants” will be used. Of course, in practice, many so-called “native Dutch” are also descen- dants of immigrants. In this chapter, however, following similar definitions in use by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and in the policies and debates that will be discussed, 1996 I. Boog the term native is taken to mean that both parents are born in the Netherlands, while the term immigrant indicates that at least one parent was born outside the Netherlands. Perspectives on National Belonging Individuals who possess the legal status of a nation-state’s citizenship legally belong to this nation-state’s national group. However, citizens of this nation-state can still disagree about who of their fellow citizens fully belongs to their