Since the arrival of the new millennium, a number of developments have given intercultural dialogue (ICD), cultural diversity and social cohesion a more prominent place on political agendas. Given this, it became increasingly important to understand how national governments across Europe actually address ICD, be it as part of an integrated policy framework or in different sector specific policy fields. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to map national approaches, policies or strategies in Europe to ICD.
From January to December 2007, the European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research (ERICarts Institute) worked together with a group of 12 key experts/special advisors and 37 national correspondents to investigate concepts of intercultural dialogue, their challenges do different sectors such as culture, education, sports or youth, and main actors involved in their promotion. Contents of the report include:
- Intercultural Dialogue: Identifying and assessing impulses or trigger issues
- Understanding ICD in selected sectors
- A legal environment for intercultural dialogue
- National actors and the diversity of approaches to intercultural dialogue
- National approaches, strategies and policies relating to ICD
- Sector specific ICD policies and strategies
- From policy to practice: assessing projects and experiments
- Conclusions and recommendations
The Study includes an Executive Summary and 50 recommendations to European and national actors. The Intercultural Dialogue webspace www.interculturaldialogue.eu provides information about the project, its results and information resources.