Most countries now are culturally diverse. According to recent estimates, our world contains over 600 living language groups, and more than 5000 diverse groups. They represent different cultural practices, life-style and views. In contemporary multicultural societies, very few citizens can be said to share the same language, or belong to the same ethnic groups.
This diversity raises a series of important divide questions and ethnic conflict. The conflict relate to cultural rights of minorities, regional autonomy, language rights, national symbols and collective rights. Why cultures differ, whether their diversity is a permanent phenomenon , whether all of them deserve equal respect?
They also include issues about the state’s relation to ethnic groups and culture, such as whether it should ignore or give state’s recognition to its various cultures and treat them all equally. How multicultural countries resolve the question of diversity and ethnic conflict? How the states can both respect cultural diversity and ensure state unity? In this thesis, I try to find the real meaning of Multiculturalism and build a normal model to set up the ethnic relationship in multicultural countries.
The finding of this thesis as fallow:
1. Every country has different way to resolve the tense relationship of ethnonational groups, but they have the same goal which is ensure state unity.
2. The real meaning of Multiculturalism is building a civic country.
3. Multicultural citizenship set up between state and ethnic groups to mitigate the tense relationship.
4. National identity of multicultural countries is civic nationalism, and ethnic identity is a free chooses. National identity ethnic identity can exist together not conflicting.