A European Approach: Language, Nation, Immigration and Citizenship . Processes of Change, Political Innovation and Social Inclusion

Ricard Zapata, Professor of the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University, Catalonia and Director of the Research Group on Immigration and Political Innovation (GRIIP)

It is increasingly accepted that European politics in the 21st century will be focused on the politics of identity in contrast with the 20th century politics of social and economic aspects. It is also a fact that academic debates about multiculturalism usually deal with these subjects focusing on a single dimension. What is missing from the approach of current debates are the interactions among several forms of multiculturalism . This lecture debates these issues in the context of Catalonia, where two processes are interrelated: the existing demands of self-government demands by minority nations and the new processes that result from immigration.

The question of the reciprocal effects when two processes concur historically in a given context has some important theoretical and institutional implications for the future development of the different forms of expression of multiculturalism . In the case of Catalonia, these relationships have a vital significance since, depending on how they are managed, they can bring about new opportunities as well as backward steps in each one of the processes. What is clear is that the demands for institutional answers to the uncertainties resulting from the interaction between immigration and government have the political nature of deciding how future generations will live.