Description
Students in the MA Political Science programme are required to enroll in a Thesis Seminar in the subfield of their choice. “Multi-ethnicity and Democracy” is in the subfield of political theory.
One of the focal issues in contemporary political theory – and one of the pressing problems in contemporary politics – is the issue of ethnicity, group identity and the plurality of cultures within states or polities. More specifically multi-ethnicity and linguistic and/or cultural differences are problems in states or polities which strive towards or try to maintain democratic rule. Political liberalism (Cf. John Rawls, Brian Barry, and others) discards group identities, cultural, religious and language differences. Maybe the world would be a better place if religious, ethnic and other differences were not played out in the political sphere. In actual fact in quite a number of cases it is very hard to discard these (fundamental?) differences – stronger still, sometimes these differences are (made into) the very substance of political strife.
In this course we will focus on two related questions: (1) Does justice require that we allow for minority rights, i.e. group rights? If so, which rights for what kind of groups? (Cf. Will Kymlicka, Joseph Carens, and others). Should liberalism perhaps be reinterpreted to require first of all mutual toleration of different cultures? (Cf. Chandran Kukathas). And (2) are these group rights to be considered a contribution to and to some extent the embodiment of democratic rule? Or are they, on the contrary, a detraction from (the ideal of) democratic rule? And if, indeed, group rights detract (further) from (the ideal of) democratic rule, should democratic principles then hold sway over group rights, or vice versa? Why? And who is to decide and how can this decision be implemented?
Already before actually meeting for the first time on Thursday, February 5,, 2009, students are required to read Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship, and either Brian Barry, Culture and Equality, or Chandran Kukathas, The Liberal Archipelago. Students are expected to hand in their first assignment for this course on that very same day (as well as to submit an electronic version): an essay of 2000 words presenting an articulate comparison of Kymlicka and Barry, or presenting a comparison of (or an articulate choice between, if one prefers) Kymlicka and Kukathas. In preparation for. our second meeting, February 12, those who have read Kukathas’s Archipelago are expected to read Barry’s Culture and Equality, and those who have read Barry are expected to read Kukathas. Thus, from February 12 onwards, all of us share at least common points of reference in the works of Kymlicka (Multicultural Citizenship), Kukathas and Barry.
Study material
Obligatory for all
Kymlicka, W., Multicultural Citizenship. A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1995.
Barry, Brian, Culture and Equality. An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism, Polity Press, Cambridge 2001.
Kukathas, Chandran, The Liberal Archipelago. A Theory of Diversity and Freedom, Oxford U.P., Oxford 2003.
Optional literature
Banting, Keith & Will Kymlicka, Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies, Oxford U.P., Oxford etc. 2006.
Benhabib, Seyla, The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era, Princeton U.P., Princeton 2002.
Carens, J., Culture, Citizenship, and Community. A Contextual Exploration of Justice as Evenhandedness, Oxford U.P., Oxford 2000.
Guéhenno, Jean-Marie, La fin de la démocratie, Flammarion, Paris 1993 (Het einde van de democratie, Lannoo Tielt 1994; The End of the Nation-State, University of Minnesota Press 1995)
Gutmann, Amy, Identity in Democracy, Princeton U.P., Princeton & Oxford 2003.
Kymlicka, Will & Magda Opalski (eds.), Can Liberal Pluralism be Exported? Western Political Theory and Ethnic Relations in Eastern Europe, Oxford U.P., Oxford 2001.
Kymlicka, Will, Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity, Oxford U.P., Oxford etc. 2007.
Lijphart, A., The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands, 2nd ed., University of California Press, Berkeley 1975 (1st ed.1968).
Miller, David, Citizenhip and National Identity, Polity Press, Cambridge 2000.
Mill, John Stuart, Considerations on Representative Government, (originally published 1861), many editions.
Modood, Tariq, Anna Triandafyllidou & Ricard Zapata-Barrero (eds.), Multiculturalism, Muslims and Citizenship: A European Approach, Routledge, London & New York 2006.
Okin, Susan Moller, Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?, Pinceton U.P., Princeton 1999.
Parekh, Bikhu, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2006 (first published Palgrave, Basingstoke 2000).
Shachar, Ayelet, Multiple Jurisdictions. Cultural Differences and Women’s Rights, Cambridge U.P., Cambridge 2001.
Taylor, Ch. (Edited and introduced by Amy Gutmann), Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, Princeton U.P., Princeton 1994.
Trappenburg, Margo, “On Entering the Liberal State”, in: Acta Politica, Vol. 33, Summer 1998, pp. 139-164.
Trappenburg, Margo, “Against Segregation. Ethnic Mixing in Liberal States”, in: The Journal of Political Philosophy, Vol. 11, Nr. 3, Sept. 2003, pp. 295-319.
Young, Iris Marion, “Justice and the Politics of Difference: A Critique of the Ideal of Universal Citizenship”, in: Robert E. Goodin & Philip Pettit (eds.), Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology, Blackwell, Oxford 1997,pp. 256-272.
Young, I.M., Inclusion and Democracy, Oxford U.P., Oxford 2000.
Walzer, M., On Toleration, Yale U.P., New Haven 1997
Examination
Part I: Course participation, including oral presentation and short papers, thesis proposal
Part II: MA thesis evaluated by seminar supervisor and 2nd reader
Time table
Thursday February 5 and 12, 9.00 – 11.00 a.m. in SA35
after the two first meetings the group will be split in two groups:
group 1: Thursday February 19, till May 28, 9.00 – 11.00 a.m. in SA35 (except 30/4 Koninginnedag and 21/5 Ascension Day) and
group 2: Thursday February 19, till May 28, 11.00 a.m. – 13.00 p.m. in SB19 (except 30/4 Koninginnedag and 21/5 Ascension Day)
On February 5 and February 12, we all meet in room SA35. If over seven students apply for this thesis seminar, we will meet in two smaller groups from 19 February onwards, the one group meeting Thursdays from 09:00-11:00 hours in room SA35 the other group meeting Thursdays from 11:00-13:00 hours in SB19.
Preparation for each meeting can be found on the blackboard environment of this course under “Course Information”.