Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on the contributors
- Foreword by Charles Taylor
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Justice and stability in multinational democracies
- Part II Struggles over recognition and institutions of accommodation
- Part III Modes of reconciliation and conflict management
- 11 Liberal citizenship in multinational societies
- 12 Nationality in divided societies
- 13 The moral foundations of asymmetrical federalism: a normative exploration of the case of Quebec and Canada
- 14 Federalism and the management of conflict in multinational societies
- References
- Index
11 - Liberal citizenship in multinational societies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on the contributors
- Foreword by Charles Taylor
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Justice and stability in multinational democracies
- Part II Struggles over recognition and institutions of accommodation
- Part III Modes of reconciliation and conflict management
- 11 Liberal citizenship in multinational societies
- 12 Nationality in divided societies
- 13 The moral foundations of asymmetrical federalism: a normative exploration of the case of Quebec and Canada
- 14 Federalism and the management of conflict in multinational societies
- References
- Index
Summary
Instrumental nationalism
One point of consensus emerging from the liberal–communitarian debate is that the success of free institutions depends crucially on the degree to which citizens are animated by certain dispositions and solidarities (Sandel 1984; Taylor 1989; Dworkin 1989; Macedo 1990; Galston 1991; Rawls 1993; Kymlicka and Norman 1994). Although liberals affirm and celebrate the rights of individuals to form, pursue and revise their own ends and life-plans, they cannot be indifferent to whether those individuals recognize and internalize certain obligations, responsibilities and virtues. For free institutions to operate successfully, citizens need, for instance, to exercise self-restraint and toleration. Citizens must also exemplify the virtue of ‘reasonableness’: they must show a willingness to settle political disagreements by appeal to reasons that are acceptable to others rather than through recourse to coercion (Macedo 1990; Rawls 1993; Kymlicka and Norman 1994). Free institutions depend, in addition, on the willingness of citizens to accept certain burdens and sacrifices for the sake of the common good. They must be willing to vote, to maintain a minimal degree of knowledge about current events, and to speak out and demonstrate against injustice. They must even be prepared, in extreme circumstances, to risk their lives to preserve the institutions of their freedom.
These points are now widely recognized by liberals and communitarians alike. Much less agreement has been forthcoming about what conditions must be in place for the different motivations and solidarities required in a successful liberal polity to be generated and sustained.
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- Multinational Democracies , pp. 279 - 298Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001
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