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Laura Schildt
Language requirements for migration have often been framed as exclusionary and discriminatory state-sanctioned gatekeeping. This article examines how policymakers themselves articulate their rationales for language requirements. After 18 years of compulsory language courses, recent changes in integration policy in Flanders introduced a standardized language test for the first time. This study explores how this change was rationalized by the Flemish politicians responsible. Interviews were conducted with two politicians from the liberal party (Ministry of Home Affairs and Integration) and one politician from the majority nationalist party (Ministry of Education). Excerpts from the interviews were analysed using membership categorization analysis. The analysis of the data revealed four primary rationales: identity, neoliberal, regulatory, and instrumental. The identity rationale was tied to historic language ‘traumas’ and the need for linguistic recognition and respect. The neoliberal rationale focused on a desire for immigrants to find work, rely less on government assistance, and the core need for economic growth. The regulatory rationale was connected to national stability and security, and the instrumental rationale reflected the communicative value of language. The findings suggest that migration and integration tests in particular are currently enjoying their moment in the sun because they respond to both nationalist parties’ desire to safeguard identity and centrist parties’ commitment to neoliberal governance. Accordingly, to advocate for policy measures with less exclusionary or punitive consequences, stakeholders would do well to align policy solutions with the core needs underpinning contemporary frameworks of migration governance.
