Feb 21, 2018

Expert opinion on the need, requirements and implementation possibilities of a Saxon Integration Act

On 21 February 2018, the Centre for Integration Studies (ZfI) presented an expert opinion on the need for a Saxon Integration Act at a press conference.

The report was prepared by the Centre for Integration Studies at the TU Dresden on behalf of the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, Equality and Integration Division, in cooperation with researchers from the Mercator Forum Migration and Democracy at the TU Dresden and researchers from the University of Leipzig. The task of this report was to examine the need, the prerequisites and the implementation possibilities for an integration law in the Saxon context. Legal, political science and educational science perspectives were included.

The background to the report is the state integration laws that have come into force in recent years in North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Baden-Württemberg and most recently in Bavaria. According to the report, integration laws can establish overarching goals of integration and thus contribute to society's self-understanding of the meaning, scope and prerequisites of integration. The effect of an integration law is also to be located on the symbolic level and essentially depends on the signal that such a law can send to all population groups. This is illustrated in the report by the example of two almost diametrically opposed understandings of integration, which are illustrated on the basis of existing integration laws.

The expert opinion was published as volume 2 of the series Praxismaterialien des Zentrums für Integrationsstudien:

Oliviero Angeli, Carolin Eckardt, Christoph Enders, Anke Langner, Anna Mrozek, Jonas Püschmann, Hans Vorländer
Bedarf, Voraussetzungen und Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten eines sächsischen Integrationsgesetzes.
Gutachten im Auftrag des Sächsischen Staatsministeriums für Soziales und Verbraucherschutz, Geschäftsbereich Gleichstellung und Integration.

This publication can be downloaded here. A summary of the report can be found here.

During the press conference, Dr. Oliviero Angeli, Dr. Carolin Eckardt and Dr. Anna Mrozek presented the results of the report. The event was rounded off by speeches by Prof. Dr. Heike Greschke and Prof. Dr. Hans Vorländer as well as an extended round of questions and discussion. Various press reports are linked below: