Will Kymlicka

The Rights of Minority Cultures

Edited by Will Kymlicka, Oxford University Press, 1995, 400 pp.

...an essential resource...

Tariq Modood, Political Quarterly

This volume collects together the most important contemporary articles on the rights of minority cultures.

While drawing on particular case studies, the articles focus on the more general theoretical and normative issues raised by the accommodation of cultural differences. The authors represented in this volume come from a variety of countries and disciplines, and reflect a wide range of opinion. The book explores the nature and value of cultural membership, models of cultural pluralism, individual and group rights, minority representation, immigration, and secession. A new and substantial essay by Will Kymlicka outlines the major issues and perspectives raised in the articles, and places them in the context of contemporary debates in political theory. The volume also includes a guide to further reading for students and researchers working in the field. Compiled by the leading political philosopher of his generation, Will Kymlicka's Rights of Minority Cultures will be of great interest to scholars of political theory, political philosophy, policy studies, ethnic studies, and law.

...a brilliant examination of the diverse issues involving ethnocultural and multicultural groups in our Western democracies...

Subhas Ramcharan, Canadian Public Policy

Table of Contents

  • Introduction

    1. Will Kymlicka, "Introduction"

  • I. Historical Background

    1. Vernon Van Dyke, "The Individual, the State, and Ethnic Communities in Political Theory
    2. Ephraim Nimni, "Marx, Engels, and the National Question"

  • II. Cultural Membership

    1. Avishai Margalit & Joseph Raz, "National Self-Determination"
    2. Jeremy Waldron, "Minority Cultures and the Cosmopolitan Alternative"

  • III. Forms of Cultural Pluralism

    1. Nathan Glazer, "Individual Rights and Group Rights"
    2. Michael Walzer, "Pluralism: A Political Perspective"
    3. Iris Marion Young, "Together in Difference: Trasforming the Logic of Group Political Conflict"

  • IV. Individual Rights and Group Rights

    1. Darlene M. Johnston, "Native Rights as Collective Rights: A Question of Group Self-Preservation"
    2. Michael Hartney, "Some Confusions Concerning Collective Rights"
    3. Chandran Kukathas, "Are There Any Collective Rights?"
    4. Leslie Green, "Internal Minorities and Their Rights"

  • V. Minority Cultures in Democratic Theory

    1. Arend Lijphart, "Self-Determination versus Pre-Determination" of Ethnic Minorities in Power-Sharing Systems"
    2. Anne Phillips, "Democracy and Difference: Some Problems for Feminist Theory"

  • VI. Controversies

    1. Bhikhu Parekh, "The Rushdie Affair: Research Agenda for Political Philosophy"
    2. S. James Anaya, The Capacity of International Law to Advance Ethnic or Nationality Rights Claims"
    3. Joseph H. Carens, "Aliens as Citizens: The Case for Open Borders"
    4. Allen Buchanan, "The Morality of Secession"