Diversity Management and Interculturalism

In light of a changing political scene in Europe, inclined to lean towards far-right movements and populism, the research theme focuses on understanding multiplicities and plural conceptions of societies.

Minority identity, especially in its intersectional dimensions, is placed at the centre of inquiries to understand, highlight and challenge fixed categories of recognition. The management of difference and the contemporary models that aim to organize diverse societies along multiple identity markers can be useful indicators on to how to live in diversity, with emphasis on the empirical dimensions of minority recognition.

 

Projects

  • Global Pluralism Monitor
    • Global Pluralism Monitor (formerly, the Global Pluralism Index) is an action-oriented tool that examines the treatment of diversity holistically. The Monitor focuses on the interplay between institutional and cultural responses to diversity to evaluate inclusionary and exclusionary practices across society. The Monitor is developed by Global Centre for Pluralism (Canada). Dr. Topidi is involved as an expert developing a report on Germany.

 

Events

  • International Summer School "Human Rights in Theory and Practice" / Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) / Sep 2021
    • Dr. Topidi giving a lecture "Decisions by an Institution of Principle: Proportionality, Necessity in a Democratic Society and the Margin of Appreciation
  • Online seminar EURAC Webinar Series on Federalism and the Law of Diversity: Islands or Archipelago? / Title of paper: "Legal Pluralism as Federalism?" [ available online ]
  • Nomination at the Research Committee on Sociology of Law:  [co-chair of the Working Group on Migration]

 

Selected publications

  • Forthcoming publication: Minority Recognition and the Diversity Deficit: Comparative Perspectives, Hart [together with Jessika Eichler], 2022 (forthcoming)
     
  • ‘Socio-political Articulations of Minority Recognition in a Global Legal Context’, [together with Jessika Eichler], in J. Eichler and K. Topidi (eds.), Minority Recognition and the Diversity Deficit: Comparative Perspectives, Hart, 1-17
     
  • ‘Religious Minorities’ Agency and State Recognition in a European Context’, in J. Eichler and K. Topidi (eds.) Minority Recognition and the Diversity Deficit: Comparative Perspectives, Hart, 2022, 115-134
     
  • ‘Fundamental Rights and Racial and Cultural Minorities in the EU: Carving out a Mandate to Protect ‘Others’’, in Tove Malloy and Balazs Vizi (eds.) Elgar Research Handbook on Minority Politics in the EU, Elgar, 38-61
     
  • ‘Cultural Autonomy, Islamic Minority Schools and the Prospects as forms of Non-Territorial Autonomy in Western Europe’, ENTAN Policy Paper No.6
     
  • Topidi, K. (2021). ‘Religious Minority Identity in the work of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: A Multifaceted Challenge in Evolution’, in Special Issue on Religious Minority Special Protection vs Freedom of Religion for All? A Critical Appraisal from Europe and Beyond, ed. By Silvio Ferrari, Roberta Medda and Kerstin Wonisch, Religions 12, no. 10: 858, 2021, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12100858 [open access journal]
     
  • ECMI Minorities Blog. Hate to the Extreme(s): The Distorted Uses of Religion and Culture in Europe

 

Other relevant sources

  • The Atlas of Religious or Belief Minorities in the EU Countries

    The Atlas is a project that aims to map and measure the rights of religious or belief minorities (RBMs) in the EU countries. Mapping will illuminate what rights RBMs have in each country, and measuring is essential for developing evidence-based policy making. To this end, the Atlas makes use of three indices that measure the promotion of RBM rights (P-index), equal treatment (E-index) and the distance between religious majority and minorities (G-index). The indices have been constructed on the basis of the answers given by the national legal experts in response to four questionnaires; their answers have been evaluated using a methodology built in accordance with the international standards concerning RBM rights. The Atlas currently covers 12 EU countries, 13 RBMs and 4 policy areas (legal status of RBMs, marriage and family law, spiritual assistance, religious/belief symbols). The Atlas is designed to offer an easy-to-read comparative description of the status of RBMs in the EU countries, identifying and comparing the different levels of minority rights protection and promotion granted by each state and enjoyed by each RBM. The Atlas aims to contribute to the governance of religious and belief diversity in Europe, reducing unjustified inequalities between religious or belief organizations, ensuring equal enjoyment of freedom of religion and belief and fostering the development of inclusive citizenship.

 

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