The protests and revolutions in the Arab world this spring have created increased political tensions in Europe over the status of Arabs and Muslims within the European Union. Debates over policies promoting multiculturalism in European nations were already contentious well before the Arab protests, but now the very notion of multiculturalism is under attack by far right political parties across Europe.

The instability in Tunisia and civil conflict in Libya have heightened southern European countries’ fears of a massive new wave of immigration by North Africans fleeing across the Mediterranean Sea.

A recent article in Foreign Policy discusses the tenuous nature of integration in Europe.