Suchergebnisse

How should liberal democratic states respond to cultural practices & arrangements that run afoul of liberal norms & laws? This article argues for a reframing of the challenges posed by traditional or nonliberal cultural minorities. The author suggests that viewed from up close, such dilemmas are revealed to be primarily intracultural rather than intercultural conflicts, & reflect the political & practical interests of factions of communities much more than deep moral differences. Using the example of the reform of customary marriage laws in post-apartheid South Africa, this article makes the case for a more pragmatic, politically focused approach to resolving conflicts of culture that it is argued is both more democratic & effective than alternatives recently advanced by liberals & deliberative democracy theorists. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications, Inc.]

What is the connection between modern democratic thought & globalization? This article examines the rationale behind the present crisis of democracy. It demonstrates that the problem facing modern democratic thought has less to do with the asymmetries associated with the forces of globalization & more to do with an asymmetry within popular sovereignty itself: the fact that the boundaries of democracy cannot themselves be democratically legitimated. By making this argument the article seeks to move beyond the contemporary opposition between nationalism & cosmopolitanism. It shows that the appeal to globalization among contemporary political theorists to a large extent is analogous to the appeal to the nation during the French Revolution. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications, Inc.]