MULTICULTURAL EUROPE?*

Abstract

Starting from the first years of the 21'1 century, multiculturalism has emerged as one of the major research areas in the European political agenda as a result of the challenges to the modernist approach of nation building processes. Considering its various implications, this study shows the two sides of the same coin by focusing on the positive and negative connotations of this concept and tries to answer whether multiculturalism - in a positive sense - is a viable policy in Europe. In this framework, the specific country examples prove the fact that recent multicultural discourses are only used as justifications for the elimination or assimilation ofvarious sub-cultures in Europe by preserving the primacy of the dominant ones. This tendency, however, can easily impose an inward-oriented nature both on Europe as a continent and the EU as a political entity. In order to eliminate this risk, Europe of the 2rr century should be open to other cultural amalgamations and influences as the sources of its own strength and richness