One of the more important developments over the last few decades has been the immigration of people from all over the world to European countries. In many European countries, 10–20% of the population entered the country in which they live in recent years, or their parents did. This has had a tremendous effect on city life, political development, crime and fear of crime, and social tensions among people and their communities.

The cultural anthropologist Steven Vertovec (2007) introduced the concept of ‘super-diversity’ to clarify the situation in London, with 179 nationalities speaking some 300 languages. Many big European cities underwent comparable developments and became so-called ‘majority-minority cities’, with more than 50% immigrants and their children.

This situation has generated a debate in European countries on nationality, cultural identity and immigration politics. The rise of populism is the outcome of a combination of two worries of people and their accompanying discourses: crime and security; and immigration and nationality. The growing tension between communities is fuelled by Islamist terrorism with a geopolitical background.

This chapter deals with the issue of migration and integration of minorities, because it is directly related to the issue of moral order. I sketch the Dutch situation on this issue, including some facts and the public debate. I use this case study to discuss the governance of a super-diverse society. The chapter then goes into detail on violent radicalization of Islamic youngsters and of nationalist groups.

Dutch development

The start of ‘the cultural revolution’ in the mid-1960s happened to coincide with the recruitment of foreign workers in many Western European countries, especially from Morocco and Turkey. It was the beginning of an immigration flow of varying composition, which will undoubtedly continue for a while. It occurs against the background of the globalization of the economy and an accompanying mobility. People now come from all over the world, with different motives and aspirations (economy, war, trade or love). The composition of the population in Western European countries has changed drastically. This development is independent of the social processes that have led to the secular network society, but has major implications for it.