Multicultural Policies And The State

"In an age of transnational economic and political integration, it is surprisingly rare to find social scientists reflecting on the lessons of cross national comparison. At first glance, there may be little to suggest why a comparison between Belgium and Britain should be instructive. The former is a small country geographically located at the heart of Europe and housing the putative capital. The latter has a large population by European standards but is struggling to reconcile a proud, but insular, history - and 'special relationship' to the United States - with the economic imperative of union with the Continent. Yet on closer inspection there are intriguing similarities. Both countries have learnt some lessons from colonial adventures, both contain 'nations within nations' and both have incorporated significant populations of migrants from outside Europe since 1945. Both, in other words, have had to confront the challenge of 'multiculturalism.' One has had to build an approach from a starting point where a deep rift exists between two constituent 'nations', the other from an equally profound colonial experience which produced a legacy of racial and ethnic categorisation. Yet the situation is anything but static as Britain experiences a resurgence of regional (or national) pride and Belgium confronts the realities of offering citizenship to the descendants of recent migrants."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Multicultural Education Policies in Canada and the United States uses a dialogical approach to examine responses to increasing cultural and racial diversity in both countries. It compares and contrasts foundational myths and highlights the sociopolitical contexts that affect the conditions of citizenship, access to education, and inclusion of diverse cultural knowledge and languages in educational systems.

A timely evaluation of Canadian social welfare policy.

The increasingly multicultural fabric of modern societies has given rise to many new issues and conflicts, as ethnic and national minorities demand recognition and support for their cultural identity. This book presents a new conception of the rights and status of minority cultures. It argues that certain sorts of `collective rights' for minority cultures are consistent with liberal democratic principles, and that standard liberal objections to recognizing such rights on grounds of individual freedom, social justice, and national unity, can be answered. However, Professor Kymlicka emphasises that no single formula can be applied to all groups and that the needs and aspirations of immigrants are very different from those of indigenous peoples and national minorities. The book discusses issues such as language rights, group representation, religious education, federalism, and secession - issues which are central to understanding multicultural politics, but which have been surprisingly neglected in contemporary liberal theory.

And political foundations of the welfare state, and indeed about our most basic concepts of citizenship and national identity

An exploration of the direct funding of advocacy groups by the government. Focusing on groups concerned with the official languages, multiculturalism, and women's issues, Leslie Pal argues that funding is not neutral but is driven by state interests and by a national unity agenda.

The idea of the nation is globally in crisis, but multiculturalism has often seemed to name a specifically national debate. Multicultural States challenges the national focus of these debates by investigating theories, policies and practices of cultural pluralism across eight countries with historical links in British colonialism: the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Ireland and Britain. This important book combines discussions of the principles of multiculturalism with studies of specific local histories and political conflicts. The contributors discuss: * communalism and colonialism in India * Irish sectarianism and postmodern identity politics * ethnic nationalism in post-apartheid South Africa * British multiculturalism as part of the heritage industry * feminism and Australian republicanism. Contributors: Ien Ang, David Attwell, Homi K. Bhabha, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Abena P. A. Busia, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Terry Eagleton, John Frow, Henry A. Giroux, Ihab Hassan, Smaro Kamboureli, Maria Koundoura, Beryl Langer, Anne Maxwell, Meaghan Morris, Susan Mathieson and Jon Stratton

Banning minarets by referendum in Switzerland, publicly burning Korans in the United States, prohibiting kirpans in public spaces in Canada—these are all examples of the rising backlash against diversity that is spreading across multicultural societies. Trust has always been precarious, and never more so than as a result of increased immigration. The number of religions, races, ethnicities, and cultures living together in democratic communities and governed by shared political institutions is rising. The failure to construct public policy to cope with this diversity—to ensure that trust can withstand the pressure that diversity can pose—is a failure of democracy. The threat to trust originates in the perception that the values and norms that should underpin a public culture are no longer truly shared. Therefore, societies must focus on building trust through a revitalized public culture. In Trust, Democracy, and Multicultural Challenges, Patti Tamara Lenard plots a course for this revitalization. She argues that trust is at the center of effective democratic politics, that increasing ethnocultural diversity as a result of immigration may generate distrust, and therefore that democratic communities must work to generate the conditions under which trust between newcomers and “native” citizens can be built, so that the quality of democracy is sustained.