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