ABSTRACT
Multiculturalism can become a feature of the politics of polarisation and difference, but one that may be presented in terms of the moral imperatives of equality and rights. Multiculturalism is a general term that can mean different things to different people who understandably have a preference which particular version they envisage. Multiculturalism and multiracialism, globally, between nation-states, is and always has been a fact of human existence—its acceptance within a nation-state is not as self-evident. Integrative multiculturalism does have a conceptual appeal in spite of its problems, inasmuch that conceivably it could lead to a new cosmopolitan culture taking the best features from other cultures and eliminating a potential source of global conflict. Politicians of all persuasions with an eye on the ethnic vote in marginal constituencies will assert that Britain is a multicultural society and appear disproportionately with members of ethnic groups in their photo-calls.
