ABSTRACT
Fueled by factors such as globalization, European integration, and migration, there is evidence of a resurgence of nationalism in Europe and beyond. This trend is being increasingly reflected in national and regional cultural policy-making, often linked to a new focus on the politics of collective identity. In contemporary cultural policies and theories of primordialism, race is usually replaced by the concept of ethnicity or identity. The establishment of a Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity, and Co-development in France in 2007 is an interesting example of a governmental measure to improve national social cohesion by combining national identity policy with migration policy. The issue of national cultural canons maybe indicative of the new nationalism and identity politics. National cultural canons have been introduced in both Denmark and the Netherlands. The Danish canon is limited to the aim of rooting national identity firmly among ethnic Danes and assimilating new Danes into a single national culture conceptualized in static terms.
