For a political conception of multicultural citizenship

Abstract

Multicultural citizenship has provided a terrific liberal philosophical framework to justify respect for cultural minorities and their fair accommodation in contexts marked by cultural disadvantages. However, the importance it provides to societal culture in order to fulfil individual's autonomy entails a metaphysical aspect (i.e societal culture as an instrumental condition for autonomy) which calls into question the full inclusion of all individuals in multicultural societies. This paper maintains that the conception of citizenship in Multicultural citizenship should be independent of metaphysical assumptions and strengthen in its political underpinnings. Kymlicka's view on citizenship is based on liberal rights and the constitutional recognition of minorities. It does not address the process of citizenship, and how a conception of performative citizenship can be conceived to address claims for recognition in ways that produce legitimate, inclusive and inter-subjectively shared outcomes, especially with regard to an inclusive national identity. Multicultural citizenship provides principled legal modalities to accommodate multicultural societies, but does not clearly address the political modalities supporting such accommodations. It thus entails a danger of a de-politicization of citizenship; and a de-politicized citizenship, is not citizenship anymore. The article tasks to figuring out the political and democratic conditions allowing accommodations to be endorsed by all affected individuals in the name of a common and justified conception of democratic citizenship and inclusive conception of the nation.