Diversity and Democracy

Abstract

The remarks in the Introduction indicate that the modern European state has been constructed on two pillars – the autonomy of the individual state and a particular sense of democracy, the two main components of industrial capitalism. Minority language groups have either been excluded or marginalised from these developments. However, we are on the cusp of a profound change. European integration involves a weakening of the state in public and private life. Liberalisation and globalisation are sustained by a global neo-liberalism. Simultaneously, industrial-age economy is giving way to the New Economy constructed out of a new technology and an associated reevaluation of the principles of economic growth. Ethnos and demos are being destabilised.