New Xenophobia in Europe

Book excerpt: 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.