Multiculturalism Discourse and Policy: The Convergence of Two Path-Dependent Trajectories in Germany

This chapter explores the nature of multiculturalism in Germany before and after the formation of the ‘traffic light’ coalition government of Greens, Social Democrats, and Liberals following the 2021 national election. While there is evidence of an evolution of policy and discourse toward embracing diversity, this chapter asks whether this is more likely due to the country’s political shift to the left at the national level or to the gradual emergence of multicultural practices and policies at the sub-national level over time. To answer this question, the chapter takes a historical look, starting in the 1950s, at the evolution of multiculturalism in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with respect to three common understandings of ‘multiculturalism.’ The chapter explores multicultural developments at national and local levels and, in brief, it argues that that current developments in Germany—a country that is indisputably multicultural in a demographic sense—represent the convergence of two longstanding path-dependent courses: a national-level discourse long resistant to acknowledging multicultural principles, and the steady and pragmatic growth in multicultural policies and practices at the local level.