二战后，英国面临后殖民主义兴起的浪潮和东西方冷战意识形态的竞争，在知识界和左翼政治力量的推动下，逐步转向多元文化政策，希望借此缓和国内族群矛盾、消除种族隔阂，推动国家团结和民族融合。多元文化主义一度成为英国主流政党的共识、英国的官方文化政策和公共媒体的“政治正确”。特别是布莱尔执政的工党政府时期，英国系统推行多元文化政策，鼓励各种文化之间的相互交流，促进理解和沟通。然而与此同时，质疑多元文化主义的声音也长期存在。特别是一系列恐怖主义威胁的爆发，让多元文化政策备受责难。多元文化主义的反对者们宣称，多元文化主义非但没有起到强化社会凝聚力的作用，反倒通过破坏它的核心价值体系而弱化了英国社会结构，加剧了社会分裂和族群隔阂，强化了外来文化的自我封闭行为，阻碍了英国社会整合和文化融合。2008年金融危机后，随着民粹情绪壮大和社会思潮整体转向保守化，英国国内对多元文化主义的质疑与排斥之声越来越大。在今年上半年脱欧成为现实之后，以十月初召开的保守党大会为高潮，新任首相特蕾莎•梅在一份措辞强硬的讲话中宣称不惜以“硬脱欧”为代价换取“恢复”英国的主权，并公开表达对移民的不友好的态度。但是，在笔者看来，保守党政府制造排外情绪、抛弃“政治正确”、拥抱国家主义的强硬姿态未必能达到理想的效果，批判“世界公民”论的确可以迎合当前英国国内民族主义的抬头，但是，对文化多样性的否认与敌视，可能导致对少数族群应有文化权利的忽视，加剧外来移民与英国主流社会的心理隔阂，加大目前由苏格兰民族党执政的苏格兰地区的离心力，使得后脱欧时代的英国族群治理变得更为棘手。
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