Liberal Critique of the Minority Rights’ Concept

• Main Author: Filip Majetić
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies 2010-04-01
• Series: Migracijske i Etniĉke Teme
• Subjects: liberalism; multiculturalism; minority rights; national minorities; immigrant groups
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/81865

Controversies regarding the minority rights’ concept within liberal theory are opening up a debate in the political and academic communities of the Western democracies. Minority rights are discussed from the point of view of liberalism since it is more hospitable as a theory than conservatism and socialism, and due to the fact that it defines political morals in those countries. The aim of this article is to offer answers to some of the debate’s key questions. Should the liberals accept the model of universal individual rights combined with special minority rights within the liberal concept of social justice, founded on the principle of individual equality? Is a generalized, “non-discriminative” concept, such as the Western democracies’ key for fair treatment of ethno-cultural issues, really fair? Where are the limits of liberal tolerance set, and can liberalism be the cultures’ intersection point? By analyzing the opposed positions of various significant liberal theoreticians about the afore-mentioned and other issues, this article points to the questionable consistency of liberal critique of national and ethnic minority rights on the level of political legitimacy whilst this question remains open on the theoretical stage.