Integration without Assimilation? Ethno-Nationalism in Israel and Universal Laicite in France

The adoption of multiculturalism and multiethnic views of society seems to be a convergent tendency among Western democracies where population flows are becoming increasingly heterogeneous. However, the established citizenship models and migrant groups' experiences have different impacts on the multicultural discourse in each country. This "integration without assimilation" thesis has been examined comparing two countries--Israel and France--that differ largely in their definition of nationhood. Despite large demographic changes in both countries, the evolution of conceptions of citizenship in France and in Israel reflects a reaffirmation of existing models--the particularist Israeli ethno-nationalism and the universalist French republicanism and laicite--and the continuity of their assimilationist and homogenizing tendencies towards a Jewish uniform identity in the former and towards a uniform secular (or catho-laique) identity in the latter. (Contains 3 notes.)