Ways of belonging: Ethnonational minorities and models of 'differentiated citizenship'

Abstract

Recent campaigns for recognition by ethnic religious and national minorities have highlighted the limitations of the dominant unitary conception of the nation state. While the model of 'differentiated citizenship' advocated by Taylor and Carens constitutes an innovative response to these challenges, the difficulties that surround this model underline the dilemma that confronts many modern states. Although a commitment to equal citizenship implies that the state should acknowledge the different histories, needs and goals of the various communities that constitute it, a multicultural society must at the same time develop a genuinely shared culture. These difficult questions surrounding political stability and the equality of citizens cannot be easily resolved. However, one potentially promising avenue is indicated by Parekh's emphasis upon intercultural dialogue. In cases concerned with the mediation of individual rights and certain intergroup and intragroup power relations, such dialogue can be fostered via imaginative institutional mechanisms such as Shachar's model of 'transformative accommodation'.