Nationalism and multiculturalism

• Main Author: KUKATHAS, Chandran
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2004
• Subjects: Ethics and Political Philosophy; Political Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2999; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4256/viewcontent/nationalism_and_multiculturalism.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

If any issue dominates contemporary political theory, it is how to deal with cultural diversity and the claims –moral, legal, and political – made in the name of ethnic, religious, linguistic, or national allegiance (Kymlicka,2001: 17). Today, governments are confronted by demands from cultural minorities for recognition, protection,preferential treatment, and political autonomy within the boundaries of the state. Equally, international societyand its political institutions, as well as states themselves, have had to deal with demands from various peoplesfor political recognition as independent nations, and for national self-determination. The turbulent politics ofthe contemporary world may account in part for this development: the collapse of communist Eastern Europeled to an upsurge of nationalist demands from peoples aspiring to statehood; the challenges to the legitimacyof rulers in such places as Kashmir, Burma, East Timor, and Bougainville have fed demands for national independence as well as attempts at secession; the emergence of an indigenous peoples' movement gave furtherencouragement to aboriginal groups calling for affirmative action, or compensation for past injustice, as wellas rights of self-government; and the mass migrations of peoples, fleeing war or simply seeking better opportunities in new countries, have seen the emergence of substantial cultural minorities in states unprepared forthe problems this could bring.