15/04/2026

Videos

The Empire Strikes Back - Migration Style | Danube Dialogues

Danube Institute
Across Europe, declining fertility has increased reliance on migration as a response to demographic pressure, yet countries facing similar challenges have experienced very different integration outcomes. This presentation compares the United Kingdom, France, and Spain — three former global empires that have received substantial migration from their former colonies. In the United Kingdom, a multicultural ethos coexists with restrictive immigration policies that have generated tension; France promotes assimilation into a secular republican model but faces recurring conflicts over religious and cultural identity; and Spain has integrated migrants from its former imperial territories comparatively more smoothly, aided by linguistic, cultural, and religious proximity. The talk argues that contemporary integration patterns are deeply shaped by imperial legacies: the nature of past governance and the cultural distance between host societies and migrants continue to influence how European states manage migration and social cohesion today, offering lessons for current demographic and policy debates. A collaboration with the Liszt Institute in Brussels, Danube Dialogues presents the research of Danube Institute Fellows to a public audience. In this session, Danube Institute Visiting Fellow, Juan Soto, discusses his Danube Institute paper, The Empire Strikes Back, with Danube Institute Director of Research, Calum Nicholson.

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