Interculturalism and the ‘Ideological Turn’ of Diversity Politics

ABSTRACT

This article critically examines how ideology permeates the politics of diversity today and is forcing us to clarify political positions towards a much more intercultural approach to diversity. At a time when the demographic argument is gaining momentum in the US, Europe, and other continents, with neo-colonial beliefs of white supremacy and irrational fears of the ‘Great replacement’ movement, the diversity politics debate is becoming strongly polarized. In this ‘ideological turn’ diversity emerges as a political option rather than a by-product of the globalization processes. Going beyond the multicultural/intercultural debate, this article represents a step forward by highlighting the specificities of interculturalism and how these distinctive features can be considered today as strategic resources for revitalizing the left's position on diversity politics. As a normative and political ideology, interculturalism may have the potential to shape diversity as a new public culture and implement the scale shift of citizenship from a state to a more urban intercultural citizenship. Theorizing these features from the left would certainly help to reduce right-wing ideologies that foster a strong reluctance to diversity.

KEYWORDS:

• Diversity
• ideology
• interculturalism
• urban citizenship
• left-wing

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 This movement is originally from France and disseminated by R. Camus. The original theory states that the ethnic French and white European populations at large are being demographically and culturally replaced with non-white peoples – especially from Muslim-majority countries – through mass migration, demographic growth, and a drop in the birth rate of white Europeans. See first works: Obaidi et al. 2021; Ekman 2022. Nurtured also by the United States debate on Majority Minority: Alba 2018; Gest 2021.

2 This was ultimately the core argument of Putnam (2007).

3 This is a summary of what was argued more in details in Zapata-Barrero (2019).

4 See Web Council of Europe: https://www.coe.int/en/web/interculturalcities/quebec

5 For all references of these contexts, see Zapata-Barrero 2019; chap. 2, 19-31, and the seminal work of Bouchard (2015) for the Quebecois initial view of interculturalism, and a more city-based view following the guidelines of the Intercultural Cities Programme of Council of Europe, White (2018).

6 See Intercultural Cities website: https://www.coe.int/en/web/interculturalcities

7 Established by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the Council of Europe and the City of Stuttgart (www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/populationandsociety/clip.htm).

8 I would like to thank J.P. Santangelo, research assistant, for the collection and initial processing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported the Collaborative Research Project PLURISPACE on Integration and European Public Space. Supported by the HERA Joint Research Programme (www.heranet.info) which is co-funded by AHRC, ANR, MINECO, RCN and the European Commission through Horizon 2020.

Notes on contributors

Ricard Zapata-Barrero

Ricard Zapata-Barrero ([email protected]) is a Full Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain). Director of GRITIM-UPF (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Immigration) and the Master Program in Migration Studies. He is also member of the Board of Directors the European Network IMISCOE (International Migration and Social Cohesion in Europe) and Chair its External Affairs Committee. Partner of the Twinning project BROAD-ER: Bridging the Migration and Urban Studies Nexus. Current Coordinator of EuroMedMig (Euro-Mediterranean Research Network on Migration). Additionally, he is a member of editorial boards of several academic journals and an occasional contributor to media and policy debates. His lines of research deal with contemporary issues of liberal democracy in contexts of diversity, especially the relationship between democracy, citizenship, and immigration. He is currently working on Interculturalism as a policy paradigm for diversity policies, Mediterranean Migration, Urban resilience and Migration Governance. For publications see website: https://www.upf.edu/web/ricard-zapata/