Intercultural Deliberation and the Politics of Minority Rights

Achieving socio-political cohesion in a community with significant ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity is a challenge in contemporary liberal democracies. Public policies and institutions shaped by the needs of the majority can inadvertently marginalize minority interests. Intercultural Deliberation and the Politics of Minority Rights articulates a type of political deliberation designed to mitigate this problem. Instead of asking what the liberal state can tolerate, R.E. Lowe-Walker asks how our understanding of difference affects our interpretation of minority claims, shifting the focus toward inclusive deliberations. This important work serves as a measure of social justice and a vehicle for social change.

R. E. Lowe-Walker is lecturer in philosophy at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia.