1995-10-01a- CIA Conference Report: THE CHALLENGE OF ETHNIC CONFLICT TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORDER IN THE 1990S GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES 01-Oct-95

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that one of the fastest growing categories on non-EU switching than has hitherto been the norm. Evidence
migration into the European Union includes similarly of partial success is available in domains such as
highly skilled nonmanual labor from other sectors of education, public administration, and the law. The
the advanced capitalist world economy. In light of the key instrument is the degree of influence exercised
new immigration, the stereotyping of immigrants as on the local state apparatus to institutionalize pat-
blacks originating from the Third World ironically mir- terns of-language behavior and service provision in
rors and legitimates the discourse of EU states about new domains. One of the great ironies of many
the problem of immigration." This is an important lesser used language groups is that they are simulta-
qualification and should alert us to read between the neously witnessing the erosion of their traditional
lines of official pronouncement and localized reaction. strength in heartland areas and key cities while
beginning to harness the potential of mass commu-
The Implications of Globalization, Technology, and nication and electronic networking.
Accessibility for Ethnic Relations
If we shift attention from the conventional territorial - Third, and most intriguing from a geographer's
and urban contexts for social interaction, it is evident viewpoint, pressure will increase on local and met-
that a major source of ethnic-racial conflict will be the ropolitan authorities to provide mother-tongue edu-
differential access groups enjoy to information, space, cation and other public services to the children of
and power in Europe. The whole history of the West mobile workers and their families in multicultural
has been a constant, if traumatic, dialogue between cities such as Milan, London, Paris, and Frankfurt.
periods of opening and closing, between diversifica- This is set to become the major policy issue within
tion and uniformity. The technological trends under- public administration if a fully functional European
pinning closer European integration suggest four Union is to be realized.
trends as they relate to the interaction of language,
ethnicity, identity, and the state system: - Fourth, and most strategical, demand will grow at
the Community level to provide resources for the
- First, we have already witnessed the emergence of instruction, absorption, and occupational integration
English as the linguafranca of Europe, if not of the of the children and dependents of non-EU migrant
world. This has caused other international languages workers. An inability or a refusal to provide such
such as French, German, and Spanish to jockey for public facilities, especially in education, health ser-
position in a secondary role within the educational, vices, and community care, will undoubtedly
legal, and commercial domains of a restructured and increase the scale of ethnic tension and call into
enlarged Europe. Fears are already expressed about question the nature and direction of the multicultural
the dominance of English and of the infiltration character of the European Union itself.
thereby of non-European, for instance, North Amer-
ican influence. Thus serious consideration is being A more virulent expression of such tension will be the
given to the following proposals: a) there should be continued importation of non-European conflicts into
two foreign languages for every EU citizen, b) a first the multicultural cities of the Community. One chief
foreign language should be obligatory, c) English characteristic of globalization is that the safety valve
should be taught as a second foreign language, never of relative insulation from other countries' problems
as the first, and d) less information and cultural loss and issues no longer operates in a "nationally
will occur if the principle of multilingualism in most bounded" manner. In consequence, the "higher the
affairs can be instituted. level of globalization, the narrower the scope for
escape alternatives. In this sense, globalization is also
- Second, indigenous language groups, such as Welsh, a kind of totalitarianization of world space" (Mlinar,
Irish, or Basque (see inset on p.53) will be further 1992. p. 20; Williams, 1993, p. 2).
marginalized unless they can influence the patterns
of stable bilingualism with a much reduced language
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