Multiculturalism and the Dynamics of Modern Civilizations

Multicultural situations are not a new phenomenon in the World history : in the Middle East and the Mediterranean World, a multiplicity of cultures coexisted in rural areas as well as in cities since Antiquity. From the time of Alexander the Great, Greek speaking urban elites dominated lower groups pertaining to a wide variety of languages, religions and cultural traditions from Egypt to Central Asia or Northern India. The Roman Conquest did not modify substantially this pattern. With Islam, the religion and language of ruling groups changed, but the cultural mosaic was not rubbed out. Diasporas played an important part in the religious and economic life of major kingdoms and Empires since the ancient times. Contemporary multicultural situations differ however by many features from their antecedents. The process of globalization, which started at the time of the Discovery, was dramatically speeded up in the second half of the 20th century by the new technologies of rapid transportation and telecommunication. Because of the increased mobility linked with air travel, people in remote areas are discovering new styles of life through their contacts with tourists. International migrations develop and a growing number of foreign groups settle in the great cities of the developed or developing countries. Because of the new facilities of telecommunication, it is easy for migrants to maintain contacts with their home countries : it gives to their cultures more chance to survive. Contemporary multicultural situations differ also from their antecedents because of the rise of a new type of ideology : multiculturalism. In the past, multicultural situations were tolerated by the ruling groups, but their aim was generally to integrate minority groups into mainstream cultures. In order to understand the problems of today, it is worth to investigate the dynamics of modern civilizations and the reason for which multiculturalism arose as an answer to the emerging spatial pattern of cultures.