ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an understanding of the impact of the new European Union (EU) legislation on these differing national contexts. The impact in two countries are compared, the UK and Italy. The chapter explores the effects of Europeanisation. It draws on interviews with civil society and institutional actors undertaken in the two countries as part of an EU-wide research project on the civil society-governance relationship. In discussing the Europeanisation of the anti-racist policy sphere, that is the creation of an European Public Sphere (EPS) in anti-racist policy, one can refer to an EPS as perceived by the grassroots and the public at large, and an EPS as perceived by national anti-racist organisations, and governing institutions at the national/sub-national level. The comparative study of civil society activism in the field of anti-racism suggests that the relevance of the EU level of governance for anti-discrimination policy in the UK and Italy is perceived to be high.