This report analyses all aspects of cultural diversity, which has emerged as a key concern of the international community in recent decades, and maps out new approaches to monitoring and shaping the changes that are taking place. It highlights, in particular, the interrelated challenges of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue and the way in which strong homogenizing forces are matched by persistent diversifying trends. The report proposes a series of ten policy-oriented recommendations, to the attention of States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, international and regional bodies, national institutions and the private sector on how to invest in cultural diversity. Emphasizing the importance of cultural diversity in different areas (languages, education, communication and new media development, and creativity and the marketplace) based on data and examples collected from around the world, the report is also intended for the general public. It proposes a coherent vision of cultural diversity and clarifies how, far from being a threat, it can become beneficial to the action of the international community.

The rise of popular social movements throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and North America in 2011 challenged two hegemonic discourses of the post-Cold War era: Francis Fukuyama's 'The End of History' and Samuel Huntington's 'The Clash of Civilizations.' The quest for genuine democracy and social justice and the backlash against the neoliberal order is a common theme in the global mass protests in the West and the East. This is no less than a discursive paradigm shift, a new beginning to the history, a move towards new alternatives to the status quo. This book is about difference and dialogue; it embraces The Dignity of Difference and promotes dialogue. However, it also demonstrates the limits of dialogue as a useful and universal approach for resolving conflicts, particularly in cases involving asymmetric and unequal power relations. The distinguished group of authors suggests in this volume that there is a 'third way' of addressing global tensions - one that rejects the extremes of both universalism and particularism. This third way is a radical call for an epistemic shift in our understanding of 'us-other' and 'good-evil', a radical approach toward accommodating difference as well as embracing the plural concept of 'the good'. The authors strengthen their alternative approach with a practical policy guide, by challenging existing policies that either exclude or assimilate other cultures, that wage the constructed 'global war on terror,' and that impose a western neo-liberal discourse on non-western societies. This important book will be essential reading for all those studying civilizations, globalization, foreign policy, peace and security studies, multiculturalism and ethnicity, regionalism, global governance and international political economy.

Study abroad programs have proven beneficial for both the international student as well as the domestic community and school population interacting with the student. In an effort to promote cultural awareness, intercultural communications as well as opportunities for future study abroad program success, universities must take care to provide international students with the resources necessary to succeed while studying abroad. Campus Support Services, Programs, and Policies for International Students explores the role of university administration in successful implementation, regulation, and support of study abroad experiences. Highlighting essential topics relating to legal issues, safety concerns, curriculum development, and intercultural communication, this research-based publication is an ideal reference source for university administrators, school counselors, policymakers, and researchers interested in study abroad program implementation, regulation, and success factors at the administrative level.

Both interculturalism and multiculturalism address the question of how states should forge unity from ethnic, cultural and religious diversity. But what are the dividing lines between interculturalism and multiculturalism? This volume brings together some of the most prominent scholars in the field to address these two different approaches. With a Foreword by Charles Taylor and an Afterword by Bhikhu Parekh, this collection spans European, North-American and Latin-American debates.

The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE) was adopted in 2005 and designed to allow States to protect and promote cultural policies. This book examines the effectiveness of the CDCE and offers ways by which its implementation may be improved to better attain its objectives. The book provides insight in how the normative character of the CDCE may be strengthened through implementation and increasingly recurrent practice based on its provisions. Hailing from various fields of international law, political and social sciences, the book’s contributors work to promote discussions on the practical and legal influence of the CDCE, and to identify opportunities and recommendations for a more effective application. Part One of the book assesses the effectiveness of the CDCE in influencing other areas of international law and the work conducted by other intergovernmental organizations through the recognition of the double nature (cultural and economic) of cultural goods and services. Part Two focuses on the practice of the CDCE beyond the recognition of the specificity of cultural goods and services in international law by addressing the CDCE’s call for greater international cooperation and stronger integration of cultural concerns in development strategies at the national and regional levels. The book will be of great use and interest to academics and practitioners in law, social and political sciences, agents of governmental and international organizations, and cultural sector stakeholders.