Managing superdiversity : examining the intercultural policy turn in Europe

Abstract

This article combines a theoretical discussion of interculturalism with an analysis of intercultural policy programmes in European cities (Barcelona, Dublin, Vienna). It contributes in two ways to scholarship on superdiversity and migrant integration: first, by reflecting upon the potential of intercultural policies to respond to superdiverse societies. Second, by engaging with the dominant idea driving the adoption of intercultural policies in Europe: the idea that (super)diversity has to be harnessed for economic ends. The article indicates the need to take the dynamics of the political economy, and issues of inequality more into account in scholarly debates about immigrant integration and superdiversity.