ABSTRACT
Introduction The United Kingdom and the three states of the “old Commonwealth” (Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) share many traditions and a common heritage based on their colonial history and ensuing mass migrations from the British Isles over the past three centuries. These four states-as well as the United States-also share the more recent parallel movements toward increased acceptance of ethnic minorities with commensurate decreased official discriminatory practices, devolution of colonial-based power to local authorities, and decreasing immigration restrictions. As new migrants from a much wider array of nations bring along language, laws, attitudes, beliefs, fears, and prejudices, these countries are becoming much less homogeneous than in the past or in the idealized picture local nationalists tend to paint. The search for uncontested traditions and ethnic and religious homogeneity is increasingly irrelevant and even futile.
