ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the sociological and political debate on the principal models of analysis on the migration and integration processes and the ways with which countries try to face the dynamics of diversity. It analyzes theories of assimilation and neo-assimilation, multiculturalism as a framework that responded to the ethnocentrism and colonizing ideology of assimilationism, and interculturalism, which grew out of a multiculturalism backlash. The chapter focuses on the political rhetoric and debate between interculturalism and multiculturalism as well as an analysis of the relationship between interculturalism, civic requirements, and governmentality. Foundational concepts and key words found throughout the documents on interculturalism are: a “new diversity management model,” “cross-cultural dialogue,” “super-diversity,”, a focus on the “individual” versus group rights, and “social cohesion”. Europe interculturalism has become prominent as a “distinct alternative”, “a gain over multiculturalism”, and a “lifeline” to deal with the perceived negative consequences of multiculturalism.
