Abstract

Central to discussions of multiculturalism and minority rights in modern liberal societies is the idea that the particular demands of minority groups contradict the requirements of equality, anonymity, and universality for citizenship and belonging. The contributors to this volume question the significance of this dichotomy between the universal and the particular, arguing that it reflects how the modern state has instituted the basic rights and obligations of its members and that these institutions are undergoing fundamental transformations under the pressure of globalization. They show that the social bonds uniting groups constitute the means of our freedom, rather than obstacles to achieving the universal.

“This excellent set of essays offers a fantastic contribution to how we might consider the relation between the national and the global in modern political thought, written by many of the leading international figures in the field….A terrific resource for anyone interested in engaging more deeply with the ways we should conceive liberal democracy in light of globalization with far reaching implications for politics, philosophy and public policy.”  ·  Thom Brooks, Durham University

“This book contains the best and the most original and innovative contributions I ever read on how to consider national and global political issues beyond the current dichotomy we find in contemporary literature….The book will be an indispensable tool for all those who are interested in the future of Liberal Democracy…”  ·  Lukas K. Sosoe, University of Luxembourg

Paul Dumouchel is Professor of philosophy at the Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto. He is the author of Le sacrifice inutile essai sur la violence politique (Paris: Flammarion, 2011) and The Ambivalence of Scarcity and Other Essays (Michigan State University Press, 2014) and co-edited with Rieko Gotoh Against Injustice the New Economics of Amartya Sen (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Reiko Gotoh is Professor at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo. She is the author of Economical Philosophy of Justice: Rawls and Sen (Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 2002, in Japanese) and co-edited, with Paul Dumouchel, Against Injustice: The New Economics of Amartya Sen (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and, with Amartya Sen, Well-Being and Justice (University of Tokyo Press, 2008, in Japanese).