The Politics of Good Neighbourhood ─ State, Civil Society and the Enhancement of Cultural Capital in East Central Europe

Analysing neighbourly relations in multicultural societies, this book develops the concept of ‘good neighbourhood’ and argues that cultural capital in various forms is the determining variable in building good-neighbourly relations in multicultural and divided societies. This work breaks new ground by offering a conceptual integration of different, mutually interdependent forms of cultural capital: inter-cultural capital, cross-cultural (social) capital and multicultural capital. These forms of capital are linked to different educational and cultural policies at the state level as well as to civil society involvement at different levels of implementation. Although grounded in extensive fieldwork in culturally diverse border regions of East Central Europe, the concept is not region-specific and its rich theoretical base means it can be usefully adapted and applied to other contexts. Scholars, graduate level students and policy practitioners in Geography, International Relations, Political Science, Social Anthropology and Sociology with an interest in the negotiation of coexistence, minority issues and social and political cohesion in multicultural and multinational societies will find this an illuminating read.

BAcla Filep is a Research Fellow at the University of Bern in Switzerland and specialises in inter-ethnic relations, conflict resolution, border studies and East Central Europe.