ethnocultural minorities in liberal democracies raphael cohen-almagor university of haifa, israel...

Ethnocultural Ethnocultural Minorities in Liberal Minorities in Liberal

DemocraciesDemocracies

Raphael Cohen-AlmagorRaphael Cohen-Almagor

University of Haifa, ISRAELUniversity of Haifa, ISRAEL

Will KymlickaWill Kymlicka

Queen's University, Queen's University, CANADACANADA

PreliminariesPreliminaries How are group rights related

to individual rights? What should we do if group

rights come into conflict with individual rights?

Can a liberal democracy allow minority groups to restrict the individual rights of their members, or should it insist that all groups uphold liberal principles?

self- and other-regarding conduct

cases in which one is inflicting pain or death upon oneself vs. cases in which one is inflicting damage upon others

Jainas practice in relation to the dying

scarring

Two kinds of rights

“internal restrictions” - right of a group against its own members

“external protections” - right of a group against the larger society

Murder for family Murder for family honourhonour

Some norms are considered by liberal standards to be intrinsically wrong, wrong by their very nature

Such are norms that result in physical harm to women and babies

External protections are External protections are defensible when groups seek defensible when groups seek to protect their identity by to protect their identity by limiting their vulnerability to limiting their vulnerability to the decisions of the larger the decisions of the larger societysociety

reserving land for the exclusive use of a minority group

Guaranteeing representation for a minority on advisory or legislative bodies

Devolving power to local levels

Unjust claims for Unjust claims for external protections external protections

Apartheid Apartheid

whereas internal restrictions are almost inherently in conflict with liberal democratic norms, external protections are not as long as they promote equality between groups, rather than allowing one group to dominate or oppress another

Pueblo Indians Pueblo Indians communities communities

discriminate against discriminate against members who have members who have abandoned the traditional abandoned the traditional tribal religion in the tribal religion in the distribution of housing distribution of housing

discriminate against women discriminate against women who have married outside the who have married outside the tribetribe

The Nature of Liberal The Nature of Liberal Tolerance Tolerance

Rawls: conceptions that directly conflict with the principles of justice, or that wish to control the machinery of state and practices so as to coerce the citizenry by employing effective intolerance should be excluded

no social world exists that does not exclude some ways of life that realize in special ways some essential values

comprehensive doctrines vs. reasonable comprehensive doctrines

democratic society is characterized not simply by a pluralism of comprehensive religious, philosophical, and moral doctrines but by pluralism of incompatible yet reasonable comprehensive doctrines

internalized coercion vs. designated coercion

Unlike the internalized coercion, designated coercion is not concerned with a machinery aiming to convince the entire cultural group of an irrefutable truth

Halizah

Judaism vs. liberalism: collective vs. individual autonomy

"millet system""millet system"

a group-based form of toleration, which did not recognize any principle of individual freedom of conscience

Hofer vs. HoferHofer vs. Hofer

people have a basic interest in their capacity to form and revise their conception of the good

the power of religious communities over their own members must be such that individuals can freely and effectively exercise that capacity

ConclusionsConclusions

– relevant factors in deciding relevant factors in deciding when intervention is when intervention is warranted:warranted:

the severity of rights violations the severity of rights violations within the minority community;within the minority community;

the extent to which formalized the extent to which formalized dispute resolution mechanisms dispute resolution mechanisms exist within the community;exist within the community;

the extent to which these the extent to which these mechanisms are seen as mechanisms are seen as legitimate by group legitimate by group members;members;

the ability of dissenting the ability of dissenting group members to leave the group members to leave the community if they so desire;community if they so desire;

the existence of historical the existence of historical agreements which base the agreements which base the national minority’s claim national minority’s claim for some sort of autonomyfor some sort of autonomy

Developing a liberal theory of Developing a liberal theory of minority rights is of the minority rights is of the utmost importance for the utmost importance for the future of liberal democracies, future of liberal democracies, particularly for newly particularly for newly democratizing countries in democratizing countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Eastern Europe, Asia and AfricaAfrica