Mitja Žagar* Diversity Management and Integration: From Ideas to Concepts I. Introduction: the Context Walking in the streets of (especially bigger) cities everywhere in the world we can hear a fascinating plurality of dialects and languages, and detect the diverse physical and cultural characteristics and features of individuals—in short, one of the common char- acteristics of urban environments is a fascinating diversity of diversities. In rural envi- ronments, pluralities and diversities might be less obvious and numerous; however, they can be found everywhere. Travelling in the countryside reveals a number of asymmetries and diversities—such as speciic geographic and/or climatic features of the territory, diverse density of populations, diferent levels of social and economic development, diverse architecture, etc. Ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural diversities are just a few kinds and dimen- sions of diversities and asymmetries that exist in contemporary societies. However, con- sidering their social impacts, roles and importance in history—especially in the past two centuries—they can be considered to be important factors of social and historic developments. In many ways, ethnicity—as a speciic social phenomenon and (politi- cal) concept, but especially as diverse and distinct collective entities that have emerged and evolved in speciic historic circumstances (in Europe since the seventeenth century) into (modern) nations and developed their speciic ethnic identities, ways of life and cultures—conditioned the elaboration, development and evolution of the concept of nation-states.  his concept is built on the myth of ethnic homogeneity, which perceives * Research Councilor at the Institute for Ethnic Studies and Professor at the University of Ljubljana (Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law), and University of Primorska/Litoral, Koper. 1 See, for example, Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Relections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Verso, London, 1983); Carlile Aylmer Macartney, National States and National Minorities (Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford, London, 1934), 192-211; Hugh Seton-Watson, Nations and States (Methuen, London, 1977); Anthony D. Smith, he European Yearbook of Minority Issues Vol 6, 2006/7, ISBN 978 90 04 17423 8, 307-327. © 2008 Koninklijke Brill NV. Printed in he Netherlands.