Meeting the Challenge of Cultural Diversity in Europe

Europe has talked itself into a refugee and security crisis. There is, however, a misrecognition of the real challenge facing Europe: the challenge of managing the relationship between Europeans and the currently stigmatized 'others' which it has attracted. Making the case against a 'Europe of walls', Robin Wilson instead proposes a refounding of Europe built on the power of diversity and an ethos of hospitality rather than an institutional thicket serving the market. Providing a robust critique of the moral panic surrounding migrants and security dominating the European public sphere, this book explains why old models for managing cultural diversity in Europe no longer work, and why their obsolescence has led to morbid symptoms. Incorporating discussion of the eurozone crisis and the associated insecurity and the rise of xenophobic populists, Wilson provides an insider account of how the Council of Europe has, over a decade and a half, developed a new paradigm of intercultural integration. He builds theory into this model, drawing on work on cosmopolitanism in the social sciences, also emphasizing the empirical validity of the approach. With its handling of critical issues currently facing Europe, this book is of interest not only to academics across the social sciences, undergraduate students of politics and sociology and postgraduate students of cultural and European studies, but also to policy-makers and NGO practitioners.