Amani, Aslan
(2013)
Is democratic multiculturalism really possible?
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis is an examination of the interplay between democratic norms and
principles defining philosophical multiculturalism. Its most general aim is to find an
answer to the following question concerning the possibility of democratic
multiculturalism; do democracies adopt multicultural policies at the expense of their
democratic credentials or are the two compatible with each other? The argument
emerges from the interaction of two strong threads that run through the thesis. First,
the thesis engages with three prevalent views on how democracies should react to the
facts of disagreement – count heads, turn difference into a positive resource, and
design procedures to maximize traditional values lying in the triangle of freedom,
equality, and fraternity. In response, I offer a fourth view of democracy that combines
minimalism with normativity. Normative minimalist democracy (NMD) holds that
these three views are unable to appreciate the respective normative weights of
dissensus and consensus, both of which have an ineliminable place in the modern
democratic practices and their normative underpinnings. The second thread responds
to another trichotomy – the three supposedly democratic challenges that philosophers
of multiculturalism have brought up over the last two decades (as well as to the
corresponding liberal-egalitarian counter-responses), which respectively draw
attention to the importance of recognition, self-rule, and inclusion. With respect to
these challenges and counter-challenges, the dissertation argues that both supporters
and opponents of multiculturalism have democratic aspirations; and democratic
response to multiculturalism should not be overshadowed by either unfounded
optimism about the prospects of a substantive consensus fair to all previously
marginalized minorities, nor by pessimism about the relapse into the preEnlightenment world due to the so-called return of parochialism. In between these two
positions lies a more democratic response to multiculturalism – one that neither
celebrates the role of culture as a unique vehicle of human fulfilment, nor dismisses it
as a remnant of the past. The argument for seeking a middle ground arises in part out
of frustration with the two extremes. Supplementing this critical aspect of the
argument is a more constructive strand that explores what the individualist core of
democracy implies with respect to political diversity in the form of disagreeing
groups. Although NMD leaves room for a theory of groups substantially thinner than
the one its multiculturalist critiques require because it is more clearly constrained by
democracy’s individualist commitments, it is still thicker than the one standard liberal
egalitarianism allows.
Actions (login required)
 |
Record administration - authorised staff only |
Download statistics
Download statistics