La démocratie multiculturelle

KEYWORDS: ETHNICITY - CULTURAL DIVERSITY - CITIZENSHIP - SOCIAL JUSTICE-DISCRIMINATION - INTEGRATION

Western societies are de facto multicultural and polyethnic. The recognition of this diversity during the 1980's and 90's makes way, after 2001, for a growing populism, an acknowledgement of failure by certain European leaders on the issue of mulitculturalism, and the return of neo-assimilationist politics.

How do we reconcile this inherent diversity of the modern western world with the democratic demands of a nation-state? What are the right political responses to assertions of identity? Does it compromise the notion of citizenship to question the necessity of recognizing the cultural specificity and identity of minority groups? Is a multicultural citizenship possible ?

While avoiding a utopian view of multiculturalism, this book pleads in favor of a shared multicultural citizenship at the heart of a democratic system capable of combining unity and diversity.
An essay questioning the future of our democracies.

The author: Marco Martinello is a Director of Research at the Fonds national de la recherche scientifique (FRS-FNRS) and Director of Cedem (Centre d'études de l'ethnicité et etudes migrations) at the University of Liège.