Developing multiculturality: the discourses on integration of Danish and Spanish non-governmental organisations

Since multiculturality is a fact in Europe, as a consequence of the intensification of immigration and human mobility, all countries have to deal with it and they do so applying different understandings of integration and the role of the host society. The individual governments, as occurs in Denmark and Spain, approach integration differently and their approaches reflect diverse conceptions of national values, universal rights or citizenship. Although some political parties assume reactive positions, with discourses strengthening the national identities, the non-governmental organisations working with migration do not and, instead, they consider diversity as an enrichment. Their conception of solidarity is based on the need to help and include the Other. Apart from their practical functions (legal advice, language teaching, cooperation with companies), they articulate discourses on integration policies in their own countries. In Denmark, the conservative-liberal government has promoted a “strict and fair” approach to integration focused on the labour market and there has been a lot of focus on Western and democratic values in opposition to the Muslims. In Spain, the social democrats in power are committed to an intercultural model of integration and irregular immigration has been important in relation to the labour market. The NGOs elaborate their discourses according to the current opportunity structures and the access to the public sphere. The NGOs’ conceptions of integration in both countries differ in fields such as the main type of immigrant, the rights to be claimed, and the position against government. This paper analyses the discursive strategies of the Danish and Spanish NGOs and the multicultural models they project.