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The Challenge of Multiculturalism in European Foreign Policy

Lisbeth Aggestam and Christopher Hill, January 2008

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This article seeks to explore the connection between multiculturalism and European foreign policy. In contrast to the US where the roles of ethnic minorities have long been debated, there has been little debate in Europe on this topic. The reciprocal relationship between multiculturalism and foreign policy has been neglected despite the explicit adherence in many European societies to the values of multicultural models of society. This neglect is no longer justifiable at the national level, given the terrorist acts in Madrid and London. As the EU claims to play a more global role, and indeed to promote inter-cultural dialogue as part of its irenic mission, this is an issue that needs to be discussed.

The EU's assumption of its global role impinges upon the problems of accountability, legitimacy and coherence in European foreign policy. For instance, the more active the EU is in the global arena, the more likely it is that different minority groups within multicultural Europe will become politicized and active over specific aspects of European foreign policy. This raises questions of how much say different minority groups should be given in foreign policy in the pursuit of a balance between access and bias.

EU member states also pursue different approaches to multiculturalism and the ethical dimension is raised not only in terms of balancing the different voices within European societies and decision-making processes, but also in terms of the tension between the EU's articulation of its role as an agent for the 'universal values' of democracy and human rights and its perception in many external quarters as a Christian club designed to sustain a particular, and partial, form of civilization. This could turn out to be a fatal flaw.