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Interculturalism is a concept that focuses on the promotion of interaction, dialogue, co-relationships, and understanding between different cultures within a society in which they do not lose their special characteristics but, in mutual contact, create a new cultural synthesis. The interactions that interculturalism promotes are expected to lead to a heightened awareness of one's own identity and that of others.
The concept was introduced by the Council of Europe in the late 1970s, at a time when Europe faced increasingly strong migration pressures and became a meeting place for different cultures, traditions and values. In such a context, interculturalism was conceived as an open cultural policy that encouraged the meeting and permeation of different cultures. Its aim was to support, recognise and respect cultural diversity and to encourage social cohesion and mutual respect through intercultural dialogue.
However, the reception of interculturalism was neither unambiguous nor continuous. In parallel with its gaining importance, as it was considered to provide an answer to the challenges of the time, interculturalism's critics argued that its contribution was neither original nor clear.
The proponents of the concept of multiculturalism claimed that the interculturalist emphasis on the necessity of encouraging communication, recognising dynamic identities, promoting unity and criticising illiberal cultural practices did not differ in any significant way from the fundamental features of multiculturalism.
Furthermore, the term itself was criticised as imprecise and therefore potentially confusing. For example, it was argued that interculturalism could be understood as promoting the coexistence of cultural diversity within the same society based on the policy of integration of immigrants, but also as a criticism of multiculturalism.
The answers to these objections were based on the argument that interculturalism was meant to go beyond the passive acceptance of multiple cultures that exist in society, which the concept of multiculturalism was claimed to be reduced to at that time. Instead, the choice of the new term emphasised dialogue and interaction between cultures.
The advocacy of interaction between people from different cultures brought the concept of communication to the very centre of interculturalist efforts. The idea was that the specificities of the minority groups could be articulated in dialogue with the majority. Furthermore, this dialogue was seen as contributing to the emergence of new concepts, values and practices that would later be shared by all.
Interculturalism’s encouragement of dialogue between culturally different identity groups was based on broadly understood human rights and the construction of common social values. Such an approach to public policy called into question the hitherto assumed superiority of the cultural model of the majority group.
It was exactly this development of shared social values, resulting from intercultural dialogue, that was cited as a fundamental difference in relation to the ideology of multiculturalism, which did not explicitly mention such results as foreseen or desirable.
Bearing all this in mind, the concept of interculturalism can be understood as a model for managing cultural diversity, whereby minority ethno-cultural groups are integrated into the majority domicile society by establishing reciprocal relations of cultural exchange through intercultural communication.
By promoting cultural diversity and non-discrimination, interculturalism has resulted in a heightened tolerance for the choices of culturally different social groups. It helped establish legal and political instruments, as well as cultural and educational policies, for diversity management. In everyday life contexts, the concept is often interpreted as encouraging the right of individuals to freely use their cultural and religious characteristics in the public space, as long as this does not endanger the rights of others. (ITK, MP)