First published in the International Encyclopaedia of Social and Behavioural Sciences (Pergamon Press, 2001); reprinted in the 2nd edition (2015). An overview of different justifications of multiculturalism in contemporary political theory, as well as various challenges to and critiques of those arguments.

Deliberative democracy is often celebrated and endorsed because of its promise to include, empower, and emancipate otherwise oppressed and excluded social groups through securing their voice and granting them impact in reasoned public deliberation. This article explores the ability of Habermas’ theory of deliberative democracy to accommodate the demands of historically excluded social groups in democratic plural societies. It argues that the inclusive, transformative, and empowering potential of Habermas’ theory of deliberative democracy falters when confronted with particular types of historical (...) injustices. It falters because it pays little attention to the historical dimension of injustices and the demands to which it gives rise. The historical dimension of longstanding injustices, it is argued, gives rise to a set of distinctive demands, such as collective memory of exclusion, acknowledgement of historical injustices, taking responsibility, and offering apology and reparations for causing these injustices, which go beyond the type of democratic inclusion that is often offered by deliberative democracy. Yet, the solution is not to abandon the model of deliberative democracy. Quite the contrary, it remains a valuable basis for forward-looking political decision making. The article concludes that in order to achieve inclusive, empowering and transformative deliberation in consolidated democracies that have experienced historical injustices, the politics of reconciliation is indispensable. (shrink)

The political and social reaction to the ‘refugee crisis’ in Australia cannot be solely understood in purely geo-political or economic terms. Neither can the persistence of racism in Australian political culture be explained in terms of its electoral advantage. This article contends that the racist attitudes of the Australian Liberal Government, and John Howard in particular, hide deeper unconscious processes that are historically embedded in the national imaginary. These unconscious processes are manifested in the invasion complex which lies just below (...) the surface of Australia’s political culture. (shrink)

El multiculturalismo –la convivencia en el mismo espacio social de distintos grupos provenientes de diferentes culturas– cuando se aplica en las sociedades contemporáneas suele dar lugar a una serie de difi cultades, en ocasiones problemáticas. El multiculturalismo colisiona con el concepto de ciudadanía en las sociedades contemporáneas, a la vez que supone un intento por redefi nirlo. En efecto, el modelo clásico del estado liberal democrático se basa en un concepto de ciudadanía que abstrae, entre otros, las particularidades culturales y (...) establece la identidad política sobre la condición formal del ciudadano como un ser sujeto a derechos y deberes iguales para todos; lo cual no se ajusta a la realidad de las sociedades plurales y heterogéneas, donde grupos minoritarios realizan demandas para el reconocimiento de la especifi cidad cultural. Estos grupos exigen derechos y medidas específi cas con el objetivo de preservar la identidad de los individuos ciudadanos y su pleno autodesarrollo. Esto puede ser entendido como una exigencia para ampliar el concepto de ciudadanía, lo cual resulta difícil de armonizar con los presupuestos subyacentes al modelo liberal democrático clásico de ciudadano. Este artículo plantea este debate, analizando las diferentes alternativas que los diversos modelos de ciudadanía proporcionan a la existencia y al desafío del multiculturalismo. (shrink)