Party competition and the production of nationhood in the immigration context: particularizing the universal for political gain in France and Québec

ABSTRACT

Analysing parties’ media representations in the context of France’s 2010 legal ban of Islamic facial coverings and Québec’s (rejected) Charter of Values in 2013, this paper foregrounds the neglected role that party competition plays in shaping the construction of nationhood in public debates around immigrant religious practices. Our findings show that in these debates, political parties aim to maintain their distinct identities by generating a particular universalism, in which purportedly “universal” values, such as gender equality, are imbricated with particularistic images of nationhood.

KEYWORDS:

• Nationalism
• politics
• Islam
• media
• France
• Québec

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 This includes those working in the ministries, in government institutions, in public elementary and secondary schools, in centres de petite enfance and private subsidized daycares, for judges, police officers and employees of correctional institutions.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.