Concluding Remarks

In this concluding chapter, we provide a brief review of the preceding case studies’ main findings. We begin by showing that some case studies provide evidence of expected outcomes following a shift to the left in government, while other case studies provide evidence of puzzling outcomes following a shift to the left. We then show how the book addresses its three central questions: Why does multiculturalism sometimes fail to ‘mend’ following a shift to the left in government? Why does multiculturalism sometimes succeed following a shift to the left in government? What kind of multicultural outcomes can we expect future shifts to the left in government to produce? The book concludes that the development of substantial multiculturalism is likely to be contingent on factors that have little to do with the government of the day. Its chapters also tell us to be vigilant about the substance of modern commitment to minority rights and multiculturalism. Holding left-wing government up to conventional wisdom and historical precedent therefore means, in the third decade of the twenty-first century and onward, assessing their commitment to a politics of deep diversity