Equal Recognition
Equal Recognition

Author: Alan Patten

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2016-11-08

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 0691173559

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Conflicting claims about culture are a familiar refrain of political life in the contemporary world. On one side, majorities seek to fashion the state in their own image, while on the other, cultural minorities press for greater recognition and accommodation. Theories of liberal democracy are at odds about the merits of these competing claims. Multicultural liberals hold that particular minority rights are a requirement of justice conceived of in a broadly liberal fashion. Critics, in turn, have questioned the motivations, coherence, and normative validity of such defenses of multiculturalism. In Equal Recognition, Alan Patten reasserts the case in favor of liberal multiculturalism by developing a new ethical defense of minority rights. Patten seeks to restate the case for liberal multiculturalism in a form that is responsive to the major concerns of critics. He describes a new, nonessentialist account of culture, and he rehabilitates and reconceptualizes the idea of liberal neutrality and uses this idea to develop a distinctive normative argument for minority rights. The book elaborates and applies its core theoretical framework by exploring several important contexts in which minority rights have been considered, including debates about language rights, secession, and immigrant integration. Demonstrating that traditional, nonmulticultural versions of liberalism are unsatisfactory, Equal Recognition will engage readers interested in connections among liberal democracy, nationalism, and current multicultural issues.

Equal Recognition, Minority Rights and Liberal Democracy
Equal Recognition, Minority Rights and Liberal Democracy

Author: Sergi Morales-Gálvez

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-10-23

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1351624385

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Multiculturalism is not à la mode nowadays. It is attacked by both right-wing populists and mainstream politicians and leaders of liberal democracies. Indeed, conflicts surrounding cultural diversity and recognition are among the most salient issues in contemporary societies. Should liberal democracies recognise specific cultural rights of minorities? If so, should they grant rights only to indigenous national minorities or also to immigrants? Is such a recognition compatible with the basic liberal principle of state neutrality? Practical questions of this kind are in quest of sound theoretical foundations. Alan Patten’s approach to multiculturalism, developed in Equal Recognition (2014), is the most recent and prominent example of such an effort. Considered “the most important contribution to the philosophy of cultural diversity since Will Kymlicka’s Multicultural Citizenship”, Patten’s work elaborates new and original conceptions of culture and liberal neutrality. It reasserts the case in favour of liberal multiculturalism and applies its theoretical framework to concrete contemporary issues, such as language rights, federalism, secession, and immigrant integration. This collection presents a critical review of Patten’s approach to cultural plurality. The critics question the overall normative strategy of Equal Recognition, its account of neutrality, especially with regards to language rights, its assumptions about democracy and, finally, its relevance to public policy debates. It will be of interest to political scientists, philosophers, and legal theorists, and will inspire students and politicians alike. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

Multicultural Citizenship
Multicultural Citizenship

Author: Will Kymlicka

Publisher: Clarendon Press

Published: 1996-09-19

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0191622451

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The increasingly multicultural fabric of modern societies has given rise to many new issues and conflicts, as ethnic and national minorities demand recognition and support for their cultural identity. This book presents a new conception of the rights and status of minority cultures. It argues that certain sorts of `collective rights' for minority cultures are consistent with liberal democratic principles, and that standard liberal objections to recognizing such rights on grounds of individual freedom, social justice, and national unity, can be answered. However, Professor Kymlicka emphasises that no single formula can be applied to all groups and that the needs and aspirations of immigrants are very different from those of indigenous peoples and national minorities. The book discusses issues such as language rights, group representation, religious education, federalism, and secession - issues which are central to understanding multicultural politics, but which have been surprisingly neglected in contemporary liberal theory.

Intercultural Deliberation and the Politics of Minority Rights
Intercultural Deliberation and the Politics of Minority Rights

Author: R.E. Lowe-Walker

Publisher: UBC Press

Published: 2018-01-15

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0774832878

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Achieving socio-political cohesion in a community with significant ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity is a difficult challenge in contemporary liberal democracies. In the quest for neutrality, public policies and institutions shaped by the needs of the majority can inadvertently marginalize minority interests. Minority groups must therefore translate their desire for cultural recognition into terms that, ironically, often minimize cultural difference. Intercultural Deliberation and the Politics of Minority Rights examines the relationship between this minority rights paradox and cultural difference, building a compelling case for an inclusive approach to navigating minority rights claims. R.E. Lowe-Walker’s intercultural deliberation is designed to mitigate the injustices imposed by majority norms. Instead of asking what the liberal state can tolerate, she asks how our understanding of difference affects our interpretation of minority claims, shifting the focus from how to limit difference toward inclusive deliberations. This important work thus serves as a measure of social justice and a vehicle for social change.

Human and Minority Rights Protection by Multiple Diversity Governance
Human and Minority Rights Protection by Multiple Diversity Governance

Author: Joseph Marko

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-04

Total Pages: 622

ISBN-13: 1134830432

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Human and Minority Rights Protection by Multiple Diversity Governance provides a comprehensive overview and critical analysis of minority protection through national constitutional law and international law in Europe. Using a critical theoretical and methodological approach, this textbook: provides a historical analysis of state formation and nation building in Europe with context of religious wars and political revolutions, including the (re-)conceptualisation of basic concepts and terms such as territoriality, sovereignty, state, nation and citizenship; deconstructs all primordial theories of ethnicity and provides a sociologically informed political theory for how to reconcile the functional prerequisites for political unity, legal equality and social cohesion with the preservation of cultural diversity; examines the liberal and nationalist ideological framing of minority protection in liberal-democratic regimes, including the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice; analyses the ongoing trend of re-nationalisation in all parts of Europe and the number of legal instruments and mechanisms from voting rights to proportional representation in state bodies, forms of cultural and territorial autonomy and federalism. This textbook will be essential reading for students, scholars and practitioners interested in European politics, human and minority rights, constitutional and international law, governance and nationalism. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

Minority Rights and Liberal Democratic Insecurities
Minority Rights and Liberal Democratic Insecurities

Author: Anna-Mária Bíró

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-11-11

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1000781526

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This book addresses the impact of a range of destabilising issues on minority rights in Europe and North America. This collection stems from the fact that liberal democracy did not bring about the “end of history” but rather that the transatlantic region of Europe and North America has encountered a new era of instability, particularly since the global financial crisis. The transatlantic region may have appeared to be entering a period of stability, but terrorist attacks on the soil of Euro-Atlantic states, the financial crisis itself and other changes, including mass migration, the rise of populism, changes in fundamental political conceptions, technological change, and most recently the Covid pandemic, have brought increasing uncertainties and instabilities in existing orders. In these contexts, the book investigates the resulting difficulties and opportunities for minority rights. Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines who are engaged in work on various unstable orders, the book provides a unique and largely neglected perspective on present developments as well as addressing the pressing issue of the future of the minority rights regime at global, regional and national levels. This book will appeal to those with interests in minority rights, human rights, nationalism, law and politics.

Freedom in the World 2018
Freedom in the World 2018

Author: Freedom House

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-01-31

Total Pages: 1265

ISBN-13: 1538112035

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Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 195 countries and fifteen territories are used by policymakers, the media, international corporations, civic activists, and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.

Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice
Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice

Author: Monique Deveaux

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-10-18

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1501723758

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How should democratic societies define justice for cultural minority groups, and how might such justice be secured? This book is a nuanced and judicious response to a critical issue in political theory—the challenge of according equal respect and recognition to minority groups and accommodating their claims for special cultural rights and arrangements.Monique Deveaux contends that liberal theorists fail to grant enough importance to identity and the content of cultural life in their attempts to conceive of political institutions for plural societies. She takes to task the spectrum of theories on pluralism, from weak and strong theories of tolerance through neutralist liberalism to comprehensive liberalism, and finally to arguments for deliberative politics that build on Jürgen Habermas's discourse ethics. The solution proposed here is "deliberative liberalism," which incorporates both critically reconceived principles of deliberative democracy and central liberal norms of consent and respect. Cultural conflicts in democratic societies include clashes involving Aboriginal peoples, ethnic and linguistic minorities, and recent immigrant groups in Europe, North America, and Australia. Drawing on examples from several countries, Deveaux concludes that genuine respect and recognition for cultural minorities requires full inclusion in existing institutions and the right to help shape the political culture of their own societies through democratic dialogue and deliberation.

Competences for democratic culture
Competences for democratic culture

Author: Council of Europe

Publisher: Council of Europe

Published: 2016-04-04

Total Pages: 78

ISBN-13: 9287182647

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A new Council of Europe reference framework of competences for democratic culture! Contemporary societies within Europe face many challenges, including declining levels of voter turnout in elections, increased distrust of politicians, high levels of hate crime, intolerance and prejudice towards minority ethnic and religious groups, and increasing levels of support for violent extremism. These challenges threaten the legitimacy of democratic institutions and peaceful co-existence within Europe. Formal education is a vital tool that can be used to tackle these challenges. Appropriate educational input and practices can boost democratic engagement, reduce intolerance and prejudice, and decrease support for violent extremism. However, to achieve these goals, educationists need a clear understanding of the democratic competences that should be targeted by the curriculum. This book presents a new conceptual model of the competences which citizens require to participate in democratic culture and live peacefully together with others in culturally diverse societies. The model is the product of intensive work over a two-year period, and has been strongly endorsed in an international consultation with leading educational experts. The book describes the competence model in detail, together with the methods used to develop it. The model provides a robust conceptual foundation for the future development of curricula, pedagogies and assessments in democratic citizenship and human rights education. Its application will enable educational systems to be harnessed effectively for the preparation of students for life as engaged and tolerant democratic citizens. The book forms the first component of a new Council of Europe reference framework of competences for democratic culture. It is vital reading for all educational policy makers and practitioners who work in the fields of education for democratic citizenship, human rights education and intercultural education.

The Routledge Handbook of Language Policy and Planning
The Routledge Handbook of Language Policy and Planning

Author: Michele Gazzola

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-10-03

Total Pages: 637

ISBN-13: 0429828926

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The Routledge Handbook of Language Policy and Planning is a comprehensive and authoritative survey, including original contributions from leading senior scholars and rising stars to provide a basis for future research in language policy and planning in international, national, regional, and local contexts. The Handbook approaches language policy as public policy that can be studied through the policy cycle framework. It offers a systematic and research-informed view of actual processes and methods of design, implementation, and evaluation. With a substantial introduction, 38 chapters and an extensive bibliography, this Handbook is an indispensable resource for all decision makers, students, and researchers of language policy and planning within linguistics and cognate disciplines such as public policy, economics, political science, sociology, and education.