Does/can multiculturalism work?

Coming from Yugoslavia, where ethnic tensions and nationalism was/is rife, I know first hand the tragedy that can arise when things boil over. When Tito ruled, every day and everywhere you went you would be subjected to Yugoslav propaganda pushing multiculturalism, 'stronger together' etc. And while things were relatively stable under Tito's strong and dictatorial rule, once he died everything went tits up. Anyway I currently live in England and I am a critic of multiculturalism and our current immigration policy, just wondering what you all thought about the issue.

Initially, yes, but only for as long as the minority culture is a minority. If you look at famous multicultural empires, kingdoms, etc. from the past, you see a pattern of growing instability and eventually collapse.

Depends on what you mean by 'work'. People of different cultures can certainly get along for a time, and there are potentially some benefits to it, but I believe the downsides generally outweigh any potential benefit. Usually conflict results from multiculturalism, and eventually either the populations merge, or one becomes dominant, often leading to the destruction of one or more of the cultures.

Multiculturalism can work if the governments actually treated all of the people the same instead of letting every muslim get away with crimes like in Rochdale where a pedophile ring got away with it for 8 years because they were muslims or like how they let the muslims self segregate themselves into their own communities where they join ISIS and then commit a terrorist attack.

Racial and cultural unity is one of the most common factors which binds nations together. However, I think multiculturalism can work. There just has to be something else keeping society united. For instance, the Ottomans, the Austrians, and the Soviets (and Russians and Chinese) all kept (/keep) their ethnically diverse nations together through sheer brutal force of their own totalitarianism, with assorted political concessions thrown in whenever things looked tense.

The United States, however, holds its people together through shared ideology, through different expressions of the same desires for individual liberty and patriotism. The United States' success was in allowing 'American' to be an identity largely independent of race, where Italians, Irish, Russians, Germans, and later Japanese, Chinese, and Africans, could all call themselves American. This allows us to disregard individual appearance and certain cultural norms, but there are weaknesses. Political unity can break down and cause significant damage to overall national unity. Also,  this method sees a serious threat concerning assimilation. High levels of immigration worked for the US, and to a certain extent still works, because it was tightly controlled and handled with an emphasis on assimilation. The 'melting pot' was never just about diversity. It was about sacrificing parts of your old cultural identity and becoming an American. This is why Europe is collapsing from within. They ingested enormous numbers of Middle Eastern migrants without making any real attempt to encourage them to assimilate and think of themselves as part of their new home nation. They tried to emulate America, and they failed with horrific results. In Europe, Muslims form their own massive communities where they live separately from everyone else, live in horrific poverty, and come to resent their own countries. Terrorist attacks in Europe tend to come from angry teenage boys who live in isolated ethnic communities as second-generation immigrants. That's a dangerous combination for anyone, let alone a culture notorious for terrorism. Illegal immigration is also a threat for much the same reasons.

The American system of multiculturalism is now facing its greatest threat from people who no longer believe in assimilation. Now people are emphasizing race and original ethnicity over nationality. I'm not an 'American' anymore. I'm 'half-Chinese.' Now we are all either 'people of color' or 'white' and expected to be enemies because of this. And that's a big, big problem.

Ethnic diversity and multiculturalism are very delicate things. A vast array of factors is needed to make everything work right. Every political concession, every government action, every town hall and speech and election is a constant holding action against societal breakdown. As history has always shown, it fails more often than it succeeds. But I don't think this means it isn't worth it to try. Other cultures enrich the United States with foods, arts, outlooks, etc. Immigrants provide both cheap and skilled labor, and they make sure our population growth isn't unsustainably low. Diversity so often ends poorly, but the United States of America continues to beat the odds, and that is one of the things that makes us exceptional.

It can.

Despite what you may see in the media, multiculturalism in the United States works for the most part. Is multiculturalism foolproof? No, of course not. But it can work.

Yes, it can work.

But no, it cannot work with sustainability.

As long as you can placate the few without offending the many, you will survive. The moment the few begin to show they have more power than the rest, or the concerns of the many start to fall behind "the few", you have problems.

Yea, although it depends on the civics or beliefs of the country. Look at Canada for example, for the most part we believe in civic nationalism, where the nation is based up similar principles and ideological beliefs. Like the belief in equality, secularism, free speech, and democracy for example. I would rather live in a country that believes these ideas, rather than one split ideologically but shares my same culture or religion (Being a mix of Norwegian and Scottish, with agnostic atheist views). In a society that believes that multiculturalism works fine. In one like 19th and first half of the 20th century Europe, it really doesn't work. I just don't see how the fact I have blue eyes and blonde hair, I somehow should have a kind of kin-ship with other people who have the same appearance or ethnicity.

I think there's a mix where it can work. The US does so well because it essentially started from nothing aside from British colonial culture, but even then there was also Scottish, African, and German cultures already there. The key is to use it as a melting pot: have them all combine together to make a delicious stew instead of keeping everything separate and having them as opponents of each other. After all, being a "true American" in a cultural sense involves playing a local variant of a British game (American Football, descended from Rugby) while eating Italian food (Pizza) or Mexican food (Tacos), Nachos (Tex Mex combo), and a German based brewed alcoholic drink while enjoying music from so many culture's it's hard to keep track of now.