In the last years we have witnessed, predominantly within Europe, a dramatic upsurge in xenophobic attitudes and ethnic violence. This book analyses most European countries as far as the feeling for, the treatment of, and the action against foreigners is concerned and describes various aspects of the complexity and variation of the xenophobia theme. The economic recession, uncertainty about the future of granted values and institutions (like the EU, NATO, and OSCE) has brought xenophobia back to the forefront of the European agenda. This book is the product of an initiative by researchers at the European University Institute in Florence, and takes advantage of both the sophisticated research undertaken at and the multi-national composition of the Institute: all co-authors describe their own country, all have several years of experience as social scientists working on dissertations and in projects of related interest, and (nearly) all of them are EUI members or alumni.

Society, by Hans Cools.

Europe has seen a tremendous rise in popularity of new rightist political parties in the last two decades or so, claiming cultural supremacy of the so-called native Europeans over foreign immigrants. In this volume, European scholars from Russian to Britain have come together to examine the media and social and legal policies in an effort to determine the causes of this resurgence of rightist and anti-democratic ideologies. They furthermore suggest actions that might help combat racism more effectively.

This cross-national analysis of Islamophobia looks at these questions in an innovative, even-handed way, steering clear of politically-correct cliches and stereotypes. It cautions that Islamophobia is a serious threat to European values and norms, and mus

Is Europe indeed uniting or instead falling apart as a result of anti-immigrant prejudices, a massive Islamic influx, and ancient intra-European hatreds? This innovative and engaging book explores this key question by examining the national and religious phobias and prejudices, antipathies and sympathies, stereotypes and heterotypes of Europe west and east. Considering the sources of Europe's culture-based divide, Ray Taras argues that the idea of two "Europes" is grounded both in reality and myth. The accession process that brought a dozen new members into the European Union after 2004 highlighted the persisting gulf between "old" and "new" Europe. While many concrete borders between east and west were removed (commercial, legal, passport regimes), many remained (absence of a single Euro currency zone, labor market, and security community). Virtual borders too were invented or re-imagined: the postmaterialist, inclusionary, tolerant values supposedly found in old Europe versus the materialist, nationalistic, xenophobic ones of new Europe. After reviewing the two Europes' contrasting historical legacies, Taras examines the EU institutions designed to overcome the historical European divide. He considers the treaties, political rhetoric, citizen attitudes, and literary narratives of belonging and separation that both bind and fray the fabric of Europe. Throughout, this interdisciplinary work provides a comprehensive, hard-hitting, and unabashed review of how enlarged Europe embraces contrasting understandings of its political home and of who belongs and who does not.

It is clear that the right is on the rise, but after Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the spike in popularity of extreme-right parties across Europe, the question on everyone's minds is: how did this happen? An expansive investigation of the ways in which a newly-configured right interconnects with anti-democratic and illiberal forces at the level of the state, Europe's Fault Lines provides much-needed answers, revealing some uncomfortable truths. Old racisms may be structured deep in European thought, but they have been revitalized and spun in new ways: the war on terror, the cultural revolution from the right, and the migration-linked demonization of the destitute "scrounger." Drawing on her work for the Institute of Race Relations over thirty years, Liz Fekete exposes the fundamental fault lines of racism and authoritarianism in contemporary Europe.