Systemic underfunding, not cultural difference, drives social fragmentation: A critique of government cohesion policies

The 'crisis of social cohesion' is not a cultural anomaly but a designed outcome of neoliberal governance, where decades of austerity, privatization, and racialized dispossession have systematically eroded the institutions that once fostered interdependence.

Mainstream narratives obscure this history by framing division as a failure of 'integration,' absolving states and corporations of responsibility while redirecting blame toward marginalized groups. Indigenous and Global South models—from Māori guardianship to Kerala’s public health system—demonstrate that cohesion emerges not from homogeneity but from shared resources, land sovereignty, and participatory governance. The solution pathways must therefore center decolonial redistribution: returning land and decision-making power to communities, reinvesting in the commons, and replacing elite-controlled 'cohesion' programs with democratic alternatives. Without addressing the structural roots of division—colonial land theft, financial extraction, and algorithmic governance—any policy will merely paper over the cracks, as seen in the resurgence of far-right movements in Europe and beyond. The choice is clear: either perpetuate the myth of cultural incompatibility, or build a future where solidarity is not a policy goal but a lived reality.