Linguistic diversity and European democracy / edited by Anne Lise Kjær and Silvia Adamo.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Linguistic diversity and European democracy: introduction and overview / Anne Lise Kj{u2826} Silvia Adamo -- Neither united nor diverse?: the language issue and political legitimation in the European Union / Peter A. Kraus -- Democracy, communities of communication and the European Union / Sue Wright -- The EU and languages: diversity in what unity? / Robert Phillipson -- Getting ready for a new Tower of Babel / Magali Gravier and Lita Lundquist -- Multilingual and multicultural legal reasoning: the European Court of Justice / Joxerramon Bengoetxea -- The multilingualism of the European Union law in the national courts: beyond the textbooks / Michal Bobek -- In defence of (limited) multilingualism: problems and possibilities of the multilingual interpretation of European Union law in national courts / Mattias Derlâen -- Language rights: the interaction between domestic and European developments / Bruno de Witte -- The model character of Swiss language law / Dagmar Richter -- Language and languages in European ideology, political documents, and real life / Jens Normann J²rgensen.

What role does linguistic diversity play in European democratic and legal processes? Is it an obstacle to deliberative democracy and a hindrance to legal certainty and the possibility of uniform law or a cultural and economic asset and a prerequisite for the free movement of citizens? This book examines the tensions and contradictions of European language laws and policy from a multi-disciplinary perspective. With contributions from leading researchers in EU law and legal theory, political science, sociology, sociolinguistic and cognitive linguistics it combines mutually exclusive and competing perspectives of linguistic diversity. The work will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers in the areas of European law, legal theory, and language.