A01=Ajay Raina
Author_Ajay Raina
capability approach
Category=JBCC1
Category=JBSL1
Category=JPA
Category=JPFK
Category=JPHV
Category=QDTS
Civic Identity
civic identity formation
Cultural Rights
empirical assessment of multicultural citizenship
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eq_society-politics
forthcoming
Group Rights
Immigration
Indigenous Rights
institutional analysis
Liberal Political Theory
liberal theory
minority group rights
Minority Politics
Minority Rights
multicultural policy
Multiculturalism
Political Philosophy
Politics of Difference
Recognition
Product details
- ISBN 9781041039716
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 26 Jun 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This book reevaluates the ‘consensus’ liberal view on minority cultural rights from a new, empirically informed perspective to argue that its justificatory machinery is not very persuasive, and that the normative goals of the view can
instead be efficaciously reached from within the classic liberal framework of equal, universal rights.
The consensus view commonly justifies the special rights of cultural minorities by three arguments: personal autonomy, wellbeing and shared civic identity. The problem with the first is that it sees autonomy as a function purely of ‘options’,
overlooking the role ‘preferences’ play in choice-making: cultures might provide ‘meaningful’ options, but they can as well suppress good preferences. Also, while cultural rights over resources and policy might, and often do, improve
the wellbeing of Native cultures, economic data show such improvement may not be robust due to institutional limitations. Again, social data convincingly show that cultural rights do not entail shared civic identities; indeed, they
might result in isolated communities. This book argues that these ends are better served by improving cross-cultural interaction and exchange, secular formal education, ‘capability’ formation and policies of ‘inductive’ civic identity
formation.
This book is aimed at a broad audience from within and without the academe. Anyone with basic familiarity with liberal thought and interest in public policy issues of multiculturalism and social justice should benefit from it.
Ajay Raina received his Ph.D. in (political) Philosophy from the University of Melbourne in 2024. His research interests are in minority rights across the different forms of democratic regime in Asia and the West. His works have been published in Asian Survey, Contemporary Politics, Asian Journal of Political Science and South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies.
