Editing Multiculturalism (section)

===History===
States that embody multicultural ideals have arguably existed since ancient times. The [[Achaemenid Empire]] founded by [[Cyrus the Great]] followed a policy of incorporating and tolerating various cultures.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Menek |first1=İbrahim Halil |title=A HISTORICAL EXAMPLE OF MULTICULTURALISM: ACHAEMENID EMPIRE MULTICULTURALISM |journal=Gaziantep Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi |date=26 May 2020 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=118–138 |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/gauniibf/issue/54503/626711 |language=en |issn=2651-267X}}</ref>
[[File:Austria Hungary ethnic.svg|thumb|[[Ethnographic]] map of [[Austria-Hungarian Empire]]]]

A historical example of multiculturalism was the [[Habsburg monarchy]], which had broken up in 1918 and under whose roof many different ethnic, linguistic and religious groups lived together. The Habsburg rule was mired in controversy, including events such as the [[Siculicidium|mass murder committed against Székelys by the Habsburg army]] in 1764 and the destruction of Romanian [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] Churches and Monasteries in [[Transylvania]] by Adolf Nikolaus von Buccow.<ref>Georges Castellan, A History of the Romanians, Boulder: East European Monographs, 1989, p. 109. ISBN 0880331542</ref> Both events had happened during the rule of [[Maria Theresa]]. Today's topical issues such as social and cultural differentiation, multilingualism, competing identity offers or multiple cultural identities have already shaped the scientific theories of many thinkers of this multi-ethnic empire.<ref>Doris Griesser "Denkanstöße aus der Multikulti-Monarchie" in: Standard, 3 July 2012; Pieter M. Judson "The Habsburg Empire. A New History" (Harvard 2016); Christopher Clark "The Sleepwalkers" (New York 2012).</ref> After the First World War, ethnic minorities were disadvantaged, forced to emigrate or even murdered in most regions in the area of the former Habsburg monarchy due to the prevailing nationalism at the time. In many areas, these ethnic mosaics no longer exist today. The ethnic mix of that time can only be experienced in a few areas, such as in the former Habsburg port city of [[Trieste]].<ref>Patricia Engelhorn "Wie Wien mit Meersicht: Ein Tag in der Hafenstadt Triest" In: NZZ 15 February 2020.</ref>

In the [[political philosophy]] of multiculturalism, ideas are focused on the ways in which societies are either believed to or should, respond to cultural and Christian differences. It is often associated with "identity politics", "the politics of difference", and "the politics of recognition". It is also a matter of economic interests and political power.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/multiculturalism/ Multiculturalism] – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref> In more recent times political multiculturalist ideologies have been expanding in their use to include and define disadvantaged groups such as African Americans and the [[LGBT]] community, with arguments often focusing on ethnic and religious minorities, minority nations, [[indigenous peoples]] and even people with disabilities. It is within this context in which the term is most commonly understood and the broadness and scope of the definition, as well as its practical use, has been the subject of serious debate.

Most debates over multiculturalism center around whether or not multiculturalism is the appropriate way to deal with diversity and immigrant integration. The arguments regarding the perceived rights to a multicultural education include the proposition that it acts as a way to demand recognition of aspects of a group's culture subordination and its entire experience in contrast to a melting pot or non-multicultural societies.

The term multiculturalism is most often used in reference to Western nation-states, which had seemingly achieved a de facto single national identity during the 18th and/or 19th centuries.<ref name="ZarateLevy2011">{{cite book|author1=Geneviève Zarate|author2=Danielle Levy|author3=Claire Kramsch|title=Handbook of Multilingualism and Multiculturalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYL4_6SvxewC&pg=PA377|date=19 April 2011|publisher=Archives contemporaines|isbn=978-2-8130-0039-2|page=377}}</ref>
Multiculturalism has been official policy in several [[Western world|Western nations]] since the 1970s, for reasons that varied from country to country,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/most/pp4.htm |title=Policy Paper no. 4 – Multiculturalism: New Policy Responses to Diversity |publisher=Unesco.org |access-date=10 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ai-ia/rir-iro/gbll/divers/index-eng.cfm |title=Multiculturalism in Canada |publisher=Pch.gc.ca |date=9 April 2009 |access-date=10 December 2010 |archive-date=10 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610171748/http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ai-ia/rir-iro/gbll/divers/index-eng.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www4.gu.edu.au/ext/civics/cv02/mod03/cv02m03t02.htm |title=Immigration and Multiculturalism |publisher=.gu.edu.au |access-date=10 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219034150/http://www4.gu.edu.au/ext/civics/cv02/mod03/cv02m03t02.htm |archive-date=19 February 2011 }}</ref> including the fact that many of the great cities of the Western world are increasingly made of a mosaic of cultures.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unu.edu/dialogue/papers/claval-s2.pdf |title=Multiculturalism and the Dynamics of Modern Civilizations |access-date=10 December 2010 |archive-date=2 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602064848/http://www.unu.edu/dialogue/papers/claval-s2.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Canadian government has often been described as the instigator of multicultural ideology because of its public emphasis on the social importance of immigration.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1163/15718119720907408|title=Immigration, Multiculturalism and National Identity in Canada|journal= International Journal of Group Rights|first=Shara|last=Wayland|year=1997|volume=5|issue=1|pages= 33–58}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/ujjal-dosanjh-by-silencing-white-men-canada-cant-have-an-honest-debate-about-equality-race-and-culture|title=Ujjal Dosanjh: By silencing white men, Canada can't have an honest debate about equality, race and culture|date=4 January 2016|newspaper=National Post|access-date=16 January 2017}}</ref> The Canadian [[Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism]] is often referred to as the origins of modern political awareness of multiculturalism.<ref name="II2010.">{{cite book|author=Ronald L. Jackson, II|title=Encyclopedia of Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2WmSCOBR2IC&pg=PA480|date=29 June 2010|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-4129-5153-1|page=480}}</ref> Canada has provided provisions to the French speaking majority of Quebec, whereby they function as an autonomous community with special rights to govern the members of their community, as well as establish French as one of the official languages. In the Western English-speaking countries, multiculturalism as an official national policy started in Canada in 1971, followed by Australia in 1973 where it is maintained today.<ref name="Reference">{{cite web |url=http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country |title=About Australia: Our Country |publisher=australia.gov.au |access-date=25 October 2013 |archive-date=27 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227080043/http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |url=http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/people_culture.html |title=About Australia: People, culture and lifestyle |publisher=Dfat.gov.au |access-date=25 October 2013 |archive-date=12 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512195954/http://dfat.gov.au/facts/people_culture.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="hon-tony">{{cite web|title=The Hon. Tony Abbott MP Press Release - A Team to Build a Stronger Australia |website= Liberal Party of Australia |date=2013-09-16 |url=http://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2013/09/16/hon-tony-abbott-mp-press-release-team-build-stronger-australia|publisher=liberal.org.au|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106010039/http://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2013/09/16/hon-tony-abbott-mp-press-release-team-build-stronger-australia|archive-date=6 November 2013}}</ref><ref name="policy">{{cite web|title=The People of Australia – Australia's Multicultural Policy|url=http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/multicultural/pdf_doc/people-of-australia-multicultural-policy-booklet.pdf|publisher=Department of Immigration and Citizenship|access-date=14 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212145223/https://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/multicultural/pdf_doc/people-of-australia-multicultural-policy-booklet.pdf|archive-date=12 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Recently, right-of-center governments in several European Union states – notably the [[Netherlands]] and [[Denmark]] – have reversed the national policy and returned to an official monoculturalism.<ref name = Bissoondath>Bissoondath, Neil. 2002. ''Selling Illusions: The Myth of Multiculturalism''. Toronto: Penguin. {{ISBN|978-0-14-100676-5}}.</ref> A similar reversal is the subject of debate in the United Kingdom, among others, due to evidence of incipient segregation and anxieties over "home-grown" [[terrorism]].<ref>[http://www.workpermit.com/news/2005_04_26/uk/uk_immigration_debate.htm Fact or fiction in the great UK immigration debate]. workpermit.com. News. 26 April 2005. Retrieved: 21 October 2007.</ref> Several heads-of-state or heads-of-government have expressed doubts about the success of multicultural policies: The United Kingdom's ex-Prime Minister [[David Cameron]], German [[Chancellor]] [[Angela Merkel]], Australia's ex-prime minister [[John Howard]], Spanish ex-prime minister [[José María Aznar]] and French ex-president [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] have voiced concerns about the effectiveness of their multicultural policies for integrating immigrants.<ref name="PeskinWehrle2011">{{cite book|author1=Lawrence A. Peskin|author2=Edmund F. Wehrle|title=America and the World: Culture, Commerce, Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTezRgjW5osC&pg=PA262|access-date=31 January 2012|date=17 November 2011|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-1-4214-0296-3|pages=262–}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Heneghan |first=Tom |date=11 February 2011 |title=Sarkozy joins allies burying multiculturalism |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-sarkozy-multiculturalism-idUSTRE71A4UP20110211 |work=Reuters|access-date=2 November 2019}}</ref>

Many nation-states in Africa, Asia, and the Americas are culturally diverse and are 'multicultural' in a descriptive sense. In some, ethnic communalism is a major political issue. The policies adopted by these states often have parallels with multiculturalist policies in the Western world, but the historical background is different, and the goal may be a mono-cultural or [[Monoethnicity|mono-ethnic]] [[nation-building]] – for instance in the Malaysian government's attempt to create a 'Malaysian race' by 2020.<ref>[[The Economist]]: ''[http://www.economist.com/surveys/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1677228 The changing of the guard]'', 3 April 2003.</ref>