The Construction Of National Identity In The Integration Policy Of German Immigrants

Germany has become an atypical country of immigration in the past decades.The domestic ethnic group consists of the main German ethnic group,which makes up about three-quarters of the population,and minorities such as Danes,Frisians,and Sinti-Romans,as well as foreign immigrants,who make up about a quarter of the population.Germany’s main immigrant groups come from all over Europe and include mainly guest workers,asylum seekers,war refugees and returning expatriates after the Second World War,as well as subsequent family reunification migrants,intra-EU free movement migrants and skilled migrants for the introduction of top talent,among others.Due to its open policy and welcoming culture,Germany’s immigrant population is a dynamic and changing group.The largest non-German ethnic group is currently Turkish,and the fastest-growing source countries are Romania and Poland.With the gradual reform of Germany’s immigration policy,coupled with the introduction of top talent,the future structure of immigration is bound to change.German immigrants come from different ethnic groups,and their internal identity is highly polarized.Most immigrants have a higher sense of ethnic identity than national identity and are segregated in a state of integration.German immigrants are very different in terms of country of origin,generation,and ethnicity.There are structural differences in immigrants’ national identity in Germany,with significant differences in satisfaction with democracy,party preferences and political attitudes,education,pensions,housing,labor market,and social welfare.The combination of national identity theory and constructivist perspectives,used to analyze the two-way interaction between immigrant groups and immigration policy in Germany,is adapted to the current needs of immigrant identity construction.Globalization and modernization have made the traditional nationalist constructs not adaptable to national identity constructs.The current rules of the state,immigration and both sides of the construct have changed significantly,the state is gradually changing from gatekeeper to servant,from nation-state to civilized state,the principle of sovereignty is influenced by regional integration and international norms,the borders of sovereignty no longer overlap with the borders of national identity,national interests are reshaped by political elites,political parties,media,public opinion,interest groups and multilateral relations,and the state’s perceptions and demands have also taken on new content.Currently,the construction of the German identity of immigrants revolves around both a"German identity" and a "European identity".The immigrant community has also changed,gaining strength and changing its role from that of a worker to that of a politician,no longer accepting the norms of the state in one direction,but constantly shaping them.Citizenship and human rights became the norms for constructing immigrant identity in Germany.German national identity has always been constructed,and the construction of immigrant identity is part of the construction of national identity.The political concept of human rights equality in the German Basic Law laid the foundation for immigrant integration.Decades of immigration history have made Germany’s immigration integration policy from scratch,from imperfection to gradual improvement,and the integration process has been accelerated,and German immigration integration has evolved from avoiding diversity to advocating multiculturalism,and then from multiculturalism to Leitkultur.The inclusive and open political ethics of multiculturalism immigration policy has created conditions for constructing national identity,however,the inherent paradox of seeking common ground with differences cannot fundamentally eliminate cultural barriers,but will instead cause identity deficit and identity politics,ultimately leading to the failure of national identity construction.Leitkultur,based on multiculturalism,calls for finding the Leitkultur of German identity,recreating German values,abandoning the disorderly and chaotic pluralistic identity,and forming a new German norm.However,there are still many arguments on Leitkultur,some people think it is the return of right-wing nationalism,and some even think there is no Leitkultur.In any case,the Leitkultur is increasingly accepted.Rather than rejecting pluralistic coexistence,the dominant culture seeks the same value at the national level and will certainly play an increasing role in the process of constructing national identity.Germany has facilitated the formation of immigrant identity by retaining immigration entry barriers,breaking down parallel societies,preventing cultural segregation,and narrowing structural gaps,and has prevented conflicts by constructing norms to prevent identity crises,opposing extremism and xenophobia,and establishing mechanisms for dialogue and consultation and mediation.The construction of immigrant identity must deal with the contradictions between absorption and exclusion,sovereignty and region,homogeneity and heterogeneity,and construct a higher level of national identity that is higher than the standards of citizenship and human rights,and higher than constitutional patriotism,in order to prevent social fault lines and cultural tearing among immigrants and reduce confrontation and conflict.