The Dream of Multiculturalism is Over

The multicultural fantasy in Europe - its eclipse can be seen most poignantly in the Netherlands, that most self-defined liberal of all European countries - was that, in due course, Islamic and other immigrants would eventually come to "accept" the values of their new countries.

It was never clear how this vision was supposed to coexist with multiculturalism's other main assumption, that group identity should be maintained. But by now that question is largely academic: The European vision of multiculturalism, in all its simultaneous good will and self-congratulation, is no longer sustainable. And most Europeans know it.

What they don't know is what to do next.