A Model of "Reasonable Integration": Summary of the First Report on the Integration of Immigrants in Italy.

This article presents a summary of the first report on the integration of immigrants in Italy. The article begins with a brief outline of what could be defined as the state of integration of immigrants in Italy as of September 2000. Next, the article briefly analyzes the immigration law of Italy, looking at its promises and applications, and making some recommendations that may serve to complete or improve its action. But first, it defines the goals that integration policies should pursue, using the criteria of good government rather than those of good scholarship. According to the author, the Italian Commission for Immigrant Integration Policies believes that, for good government, integration means two things: a) personal integrity and good living, and b) positive interaction and peaceful coexistence. Naturally, these two dimensions or goals of integration follow from each other: peaceful coexistence requires that no group should perceive the other as a source of attitudes and behavior that are harmful to its own integrity and good living. Therefore, according to the author, the model proposed is one of reasonable integration--a model which is not too rigid, not too ideological, not too pretentious.