This special issue addresses the question of how to understand the civic turn within immigrant integration in the West towards programs and instruments, public discourses and political intentions, which aim to condition, incentivize, and shape through socialization immigrants into ācitizensā. With an empirical focus on the less studied Scandinavian cases of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, it provides discussion and critical assessment of the (liberal) convergence thesis and its descriptive and explanatory claims. Contributions cover three policy areas outside the naturalization trajectory: labour market activation, family reunification and the school, and also address the question whether civic integration policy actually works.
Edited by: Karin Borevi, Kristian Kriegbaum Jensen and Per Mouritsen