Religious diversity and education : intercultural and multicultural concepts and policies

Abstract

This work proposes a common European intellectual framework to evaluate recent developments in European multiculturalism. The heightened security awareness in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the London and Madrid bombings has resulted in a ‘crisis of multiculturalism’. Now is the time to look at the renewed challenges that multiculturalism faces today. Each chapter in this interdisciplinary book reviews the actual state of affairs in several countries in relation to the theories behind immigrant minority claims. With a special focus on Muslim immigrants, the contributors look at the value issues entrenched in multiculturalism and the policy challenges and measures adopted to address them. The book focuses on 7 European countries – Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece and Spain giving an overview of different approaches to multiculturalism and looks at issues of citizenship, diversity, civic recognition, gender, religious diversity & education, integration, anti-discrimination policies and social policy. The core objectives are 1) to chart the legal, political and educational challenges posed by migration-related religious, ethnic and cultural diversity in European countries, 2) to reflect theoretically on those challenges and the value systems involved 3) to assess the policy solutions adopted in different countries, 4) to compare between different policies/ models and the ways they are implemented, and 5) to discuss whether all solutions are bound in their national contexts or whether they are relevant across Europe.