Cultural diversity as a concept has entered not only the political arena in Europe as a result of new waves of migration but also the economic sphere following the adoption of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of a Diversity Cultural Expressions in 2005. In this context, debates on cultural diversity as solely a conceptual extension of multiculturalism are expanding.

New transcultural approaches to understanding diversity emerge and the flows not only of people, but of ideas, cultural goods and services are the focus of study.These challenges are not only addressed by scholars, but by EU officials, national and local governments, non-governmental organisations, artists, private companies and foundations. They are at the heart of several grass roots movements spanning the globe which question the dominant discourses and power structures and produce alternatives to enable a diversity of supply and demand, for example, the Creative Commons Movement.

This research in focus on cultural diversity is aimed at opening up the debate by first providing selected resources on recent studies as well as important European and global initiatives, involving both public and private actors. They all challenge us to rethink our approaches and to ask more questions in a wide range of fields from language, identity, immigration, human rights, education and the arts, competition, the culture industries, copyrights, etc.

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