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4 - Nationhood, Multiculturalism, and the Ethics of Membership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2022

By
Will Kymlicka
Edited by
Liav Orgad  and
Ruud Koopmans
Liav Orgad
Affiliation:
European University Institute, Florence
Ruud Koopmans
Affiliation:
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
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Summary

Liberal democracy arguably requires a sense of equal membership in a shared society, and in today’s world, this “shared society” is inextricably linked with ideas of nationhood. Defenders of majoritarian nationalism worry that this sense of membership in a shared national society is being eroded by multiculturalism, and argue that we must instead reaffirm the centrality of shared national identities, perhaps through “majority rights.” In this chapter, I argue that while the idea of a shared society is indeed important for liberal democracy, and that it will inevitably reflect ideas of nationhood, this is in fact an argument for strengthening, not weakening, multiculturalism and minority rights. The fact that membership claims are filtered through the lens of nationhood creates a series of formidable “membership penalties” for minorities. A robust commitment to multiculturalism and minority rights can be seen, not as a threat to the ideal of equal membership in a shared society, but as a remedy for membership penalties, and as a way of building a more inclusive ethics of membership.

Keywords

membershipnationhoodmulticulturalismcitizenshipwelfare statedemocracyminority rights
Type
Chapter
Information
Majorities, Minorities, and the Future of Nationhood , pp. 87 - 128
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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