The Language Question in Europe and Diverse Societies: Political, Legal and Social Perspectives

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Recent developments in the European integration process have raised, amongst many other things, the issue of linguistic diversity, for some a stumbling block to the creation of a European democratic polity and its legal and social institutions. The solution to the 'question of language', involves an understanding of the role played by natural languages and the consequent design of policies and institutional mechanisms to facilitate inter-linguistic and intercultural communication. This is not an exclusively European problem, and nor is it entirely new, for it is also the problem of linguistic majorities and minorities within unitary nation-states. However, the effects of globalization and the diffusion of multiculturalism within nation-states have given renewed emphasis to the question of language in diverse societies. Facing the question anew involves reconsidering traditional ideas about social communication and the public sphere, about opinion-formation and diffusion, about the protection of cultural and linguistic minorities, and about the role that language plays in the process of formation of political and legal cultures. This volume is intended as a multidisciplinary contribution towards studying and assessing the range of problems that form the 'language question' in Europe and diverse societies.

Reviews

This collection of explorations of 'The Language Question' ... in the European Union is a welcome addition to a growing body of scholarship on related topics ... The chapters are largely complementary in their approaches, thereby ensuring a genuinely multidimensional treatment of the book's subject matter. A book that ... provides plenty of food for thought and direction for future research. -- Dr Tarlach McGonagle * European Public Law, Volume 16 Issue 2 *

Author Bio

Dario Castiglione teaches Political Theory at the University of Exeter. His main research interests are in the history and theory of political thought and European constitutionalism. Christopher Longman is Deputy Director of the Centre for European Studies at the University of Exeter. His research interests include: the politics of cultural diversity and the construction of European identity; language and politics in the EU; and European political integration.