MOST OF THE NATIONS IN EUROPE have been characterized by ethnic and religious diversity historically. However, since 1945 many of the nations in Western and Northern Europe—such as the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands—have experienced immigration from former colonial nations and from less wealthy nations in Southern and Eastern Europe. The United Kingdom has experienced significant immigration from Commonwealth nations such as India, Pakistan, and Jamaica.
England and Germany are examples of European nations that have experienced significant immigration in the post–World War II period that have Western democratic governments. Most of the ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity within Russia results from groups that have lived in Russia historically or who have immigrated from other nations that were part of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Russia, which had a highly centralized Communist form of government from 1917 to 1990, is now in the process of trying to construct a democratic government that includes its diverse population into a common nation-state.
Figueroa (Chapter 8) describes the ways in which the immigration of Blacks and Asians into England, who came from former colonies, evoked xenophobic sentiments and led