The main purpose of this article is to formulate a defence of the emerging intercultural policy paradigm for the benefit of those who are still somewhat reluctant to accept its proper place within the current migration-related diversity policy debate. My defence will take two main lines of argumentation:Firstly, I will state that the increasing intensity of the intercultural policy paradigm must be placed in the present-day post-multicultural period, which recognizes the strengths of the multicultural policy paradigm but also the limits to its process for recognizing differences. The role played by the emerging national civic policy paradigm (a renovated version of assimilation), prioritizing duties before rights, will also be considered crucial to better contextualize interculturalism.Secondly, I will try to identify the main distinctive features of interculturalism, which legitimize its proper place within the diversity debate today. Without rejecting rights-based and duties-based policy approaches, interculturalism places more emphasis on a contacts-based policy approach, aimed at fostering communication and relationships among people from different backgrounds, including national citizens. This approach focuses on common bonds rather than differences. It also views diversity as an advantage and a resource, and centres its policy goals on community cohesion and reframing a common public culture that places diversity within rather than outside the so-called Unity. In reviewing the current literature and the origins of the intercultural policy paradigm, I restate its contribution towards resolving current trends in transnationalism, changing identities, superdiversity and the rise of populist anti-immigrant parties. These are issues the old multicultural project has struggled to deal with, which has provoked the current disillusionment. Lastly, I will propose a research avenue to further consolidate interculturalism as a distinctive and legitimate policy approach.
The main purpose of this article is to analyse Barcelona’s mainstreaming approach to intercultural policy from the beginning of its immigration process. My key questions are threefold: (a) why was Barcelona attracted by the intercultural approach so early in 1997? (b) how can we understand the consolidation of interculturalism? and (c) how can its successful permanent endurance (16 years) be explained, given different migratory contexts/political governments? I will argue that Barcelona’s status as a key player within the multi-level system of Catalan and Spanish governance has been a favourable key factor. I will first feature the mainstreaming approach, and then defend the argument that the vertical dimension has helped to strengthen the legitimacy of the horizontal dimension, as it has provided a favourable environment in which interculturalism can flourish. I conclude by highlighting the fact that the analysis of Barcelona helps to provide new meanings for the multi-level governance debate in diverse European cities. Points for practitioners Multi-level governance and cities networks influence the policy design and the consolidation of cities’ diversity policies. There is an assumed link for cities between intercultural policies and the mainstreaming approach in diversity policies. The relationship between the vertical and horizontal dimensions of multi-level governance plays a key role in promoting a favourable environment for these policies to thrive.
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