RACISM, ETHNICITY AND MULTICULTURALISM IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE - A REVIEW-ESSAY

This essay examines the specificities of contemporary European racism. In particular it compares and contrasts recent expression of racism w ith nineteenth century expressions of racial exclusion and racial hatr ed. Building on arguments from two important recent collections on the upsurge of racism in western Europe, it seeks to develop a political geography of racism, one that could supplement political and sociologi cal theories of race and racism in contemporary Europe. In so doing it links recent expressions of racism to the politicisation of migration , the tightening of community and political borders, and the developme nt of a new politics of exclusion and new geographies of closure which seek: to control exogenous minorities in, and exclude 'foreigners' fr om, Fortress Europe. In examining the racial geographies of countries as divergent as France, Britain, Spain, Sweden, Germany and the Nether lands, it provides a critical overview of social processes and ideolog ical developments that have led to the recent resurgence of racism in western Europe. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.