Illiberal Integrationism

This open access book critically examines the contested notion of “shared values” in migrant integration, showing how liberal democracies attempt to balance pluralism and cohesion—often in ways that contradict the very democratic ideals they claim to uphold. This open access book investigates how the concept of integration - mobilized through the demand for “shared values” - functions both as an ideal and as bureaucratic practice in contemporary Europe. Drawing on official state narratives and the everyday practices of frontline bureaucrats in immigration and naturalization processes, Stefan Manser-Egli uncovers an illiberal integrationism that legitimizes intrusive governance, culturalized imaginaries of society and boundary-making in the name of liberal democracy—while ultimately undermining its core principles. The book argues that the ideology of shared values is incompatible with liberal democracy, and instead calls for a radical reimagining of integration through value pluralism, democratic contestation, and agonistic politics. In so doing, it not only advances academic debates on integration and liberal democracy, but also equips scholars, practitioners and policymakers with a critical framework for rethinking how migration is governed, how values are mobilized and what it means to belong in pluralistic societies. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license on Bloomsbury Collections. Open access was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.