2.1 Constitutional, legislative or parliamentary affirmation of multiculturalism at the central, regional and municipal levels
The United States makes no affirmation of multiculturalism, although the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service (CRS) does act as a “peacemaker” for community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color, and national origin. The Department of Justice notes that the CRS, which was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is “the only Federal agency dedicated to assist State and local units of government, private and public organizations, and community groups with preventing and resolving racial and ethnic tensions, incidents, and civil disorders, and in restoring racial stability and harmony.” The CRS is not explicitly tasked with furthering or promoting multiculturalism but acts, in effect, as a conciliator among various cultural communities. Initially, Black-white relations were the focus, but this has shifted somewhat to also include relations between white and Arab and Muslim Americans.
School curriculum is a state jurisdiction, although the federal government, through the US Department of Education, does set national standards, collect data, and establish policies related to financial aid. Multicultural principles have been adopted in school curricula of most states, and particularly in those states with higher levels of diversity or larger immigrant populations (e.g., California, New York, Texas, Florida). However, at the federal level, no evidence could be found to suggest that there is a national framework or federal “push” for such programming. The US Department of Education does list, as one of its responsibilities, “prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education,” but guidelines in this area relate exclusively to civil rights and the prevention of discrimination on the basis of race, age, sex or disability.
Moreover, the present policy context looks bleak for the promotion of educational opportunity and multicultural curriculum in local school districts. A push toward “educational accountability” over the last decade has resulted in largely top-down educational policy-making processes that have mandated high-stakes assessments for students, centralized decision making, narrowed curriculum offerings, and employed punitive sanctions for teachers, administrators and schools
that fail to meet the arbitrary benchmarks imposed by state and federal officials. It is a “high-risk, low-trust environment” and thus, programs related to multiculturalism, bilingual education and employment equity have been given less priority. It is also instructive that much of the literature in the area of multicultural education in the United States looks not so much at school curriculum, but rather at what colleges and universities are doing to prepare pre-service teachers to work in increasingly diverse classrooms. The policy approach thus appears to be geared toward teacher pedagogy and less so toward actual curriculum.
2.2 The inclusion of ethnic representation in the mandate of public media or media licensing
The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (as amended) notes that “it is in the public interest to encourage the development of programming that involves creative risks and that addresses the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, particularly children and minorities.” In line with this, the act created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which works with non-commercial broadcast licensees to “facilitate the development of, and ensure universal access to, non-commercial high-quality programming and telecommunications services”; it does this through the provision of grants and various support programs. In addition, the CPB supports the National Minority Consortia, which selects and funds programming targeted at African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders. The CPB also helps support more than 1,000 local radio and television stations.
The Public Telecommunications Act of 1988 requires the CPB to report annually on “the provision of services to minority and diverse audiences by public broadcasting and public telecommunications entities”. This includes an accounting of programs targeted at minorities and diverse communities, initiatives to increase diversity in the media profession, and the development of services for audiences with particular needs.
Still, some observers have critiqued the American approach, noting that competition from private, for-profit broadcasters essentially shuts out the educational and non-profit broadcasters that are most likely to include more diverse programming. While the Federal Communications Commission does require licensees to take steps to prevent employment discrimination through the establishment of an Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, there is no evidence that licensees must commit to producing programs that reflect the United State’s cultural make-up. In other words, the emphasis is on workplace diversity, as opposed to programming diversity.
2.3 Dual citizenship in the USA
Although citizens of the United States may have more than one nationality, American law does not specifically mention dual nationality. Indeed, the US Department of State notes that the “Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does not encourage it as a matter of policy because of the
problems it may cause.” Requirements for naturalization do not explicitly require applicants to give up foreign citizenships, but they do require a renunciation of allegiances to foreign states (US Citizenship and Immigration Services). Moreover, the US Department of State notes that US citizens who acquire a foreign citizenship by choice may lose their US citizenship.
РЕЗЮМЕ
Проблема межэтнических отношений, их преимуществ и недостатков в контексте построения государства и обеспечения национальной безопасности является одной из традиционных в политологии. Подходы к целому ряду вопросов, касающихся эффективности управления межэтническими отношениями и уменьшению рисков, связанных с возможными конфликтными проявлениями на межличностном и межгрупповом уровнях внутри многонациональных обществ, разрабатывались и продолжают развиваться.
Опыт Соединенных Штатов Америки как “государства мигрантов”, имеющего очень специфические основы, относительно непродолжительную историю и, тем не менее, задающего тон и импульс формированию современного миропорядка с учетом своего национального опыта государственного строительства, является одним из актуальных объектов исследования. Опыт США по интеграции постоянного потока эмигрирующих в Штаты человеческих ресурсов, по их включению в единую систему действий и решений, касающихся безопасности и развития американского государства и общества, основывается на методологии управления межэтническими отношениями на своей территории и участии США в межэтнических конфликтах практически во всем мире.
Опыт США в управлении вопросами межэтнических отношений, а также решении периодически возникающих в американском обществе конфликтов на почве национализма и межрасовых отношений, нередко связывается с концепцией мультикультурализма.
Сегодня в США и Канаде заканчивается процесс институционализации новой модели интеграции иммигрантов в американскую и канадскую нации. Несмотря на растущее этническое и региональное многообразие, в этих странах удалось выработать национальную идею, вполне успешно консолидирующую мультикультурное общество.
Важными условиями, гарантирующими соблюдение учебными заведениями США и Канады требований мультикультурного образования, являются государственное финансирование учебных заведений за отказ от дискриминационной практики; административные меры по обеспечению равенства образовательных возможностей; десегрегация школ, введение образовательных программ изучения различных языков и культур. Одним из основных условий воплощения в жизнь идей мультикультурного образования является подготовка культурно-компетентного специалиста, способного работать в полиэтническом, мультикультурном обществе, что требует отражения идей мультикультурного образования в учебных заведениях США и Канады.
