Constitutions, minorities and superdiversity

Abstract

Superdiversity is an interesting concept that needs to be incorporated into the field of legal sciences. A comparative analysis of the European Constitutions shows that constitutional references to culturally based minorities reflect the particular political context of each country, although there is a correspondence between the categories generally employed in comparative constitutional law and those in common use in international institutions. In addition to the cultural elements that characterise minorities (language, ethnicity, religion, nationality), other identity factors such as sex (gender), physical appearance (phenotype), opinions or convictions and social or economic status are generally included in anti-discrimination provisions. However, other elements that are relevant to the idea of superdiversity, such as place of residence within an urban environment and employment status, hardly appear in the European constitutional texts. If superdiversity is implemented without calibrating it to each context it may pose a threat to the fair and appropriate treatment of traditional minorities.