Spring of 2011 brought the ban of the burqa (face covering-veil) in public spaces in France. The French government stressed that the law was implemented for security purposes, to help combat terrorism and promote homogenous attire for people in France. Others interpreted the ban as an attack against Muslim women. Some researchers believe that identity and anti-immigration sentiment is a result of economic dissatisfaction. The on-going debate is further explored in this study by examining the timing of the policies as they correlate with cultural preference or nationality and macroeconomic factors. Results indicate that, in fact, cultural factors dominate and add further to skepticism about the causality of economic forces. Race becomes the conceptualized factor surrounding the ban law. What will make the research important to political scientists is understanding how countries respond to immigration and diversity by policing one’s culture because of a cultural preference. Furthermore, the growing wave of far-right populism and nationalism exemplify this national narrative.
