CULTURAL PLURALISM IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN THE PROJECTED EUROPEAN UNION
In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 348, S. 25-33
ISSN: 0002-7162
As pol'al, perhaps cultural, & certainly econ forms of unity emerge in Western Europe, it becomes increasingly important for Europeans - & for Americans also - to examine sympathetically the US experience in cultural pluralism for areas of relevance to the European situation. Without some of the elements that have gone into the making of a successful US, the Europeans may well succeed in creating material prosperity through their Common Market but fail in other areas, primarily in HR & guaranteed freedoms. The leading strains of cultural pluralism in the US which would be relevant to the European situation are embodied in the federal system, churchstate separation, the absorption of immigration, democracy, & constitutionalism. Europe does not have a good record for democratic gov, & the democratic processes will bear careful watching. The question of the relative positions of church & state is unresolved in many countries in Europe & will pose grave problems. Difficulties can be anticipated in Europe in the area of constitutionalism, because people need a guiding ideal to draw them together. European union to date has been based on reaction to the horrors of war & the fear of Soviet military domination. Without a central principle to hold them together, Europe may lapse from union as the war recedes into the past & the fear of Soviet domination is relaxed. AA.
