CULTURAL DIVERSITY, INSTITUTIONAL RIVALRY, AND DEMOCRACY

Yıl 1997, Cilt: 15 Sayı: 1, 153 - 164, 01.07.1997

Mustafa Erdoğan

Öz

The main concern
in this article is to study the question of democracy in contemporany
multicultural societies from a libertarian perspective, which is one of the
leading debates of recent political theory. In this context, I do
consider the relevant concepts such as "cultural diversity",
''pluralism'⁵ and "multiculturalism" and œy fo evaluate
the compatibility of the ideals
enshrined in these concepts with a libertarian and democratic
socio-political project. One aspect of this article is to discuss the value of the
ideas of institutional rivalry and federalism with regard to search for any
democratic solution of contemporary multicultural societies, Indeed, my basic
argument is that for today's liberal democracies in which different ethnic,
religious and cultural identities, several ideoloöcal groups and communities
together by "perverse" sexual choices are living side by side, a libertarian project able to
accommodate a peaceful coexistence is the "competitive federalism" model based on rivalry
between cultural, social and political institutions.

Anahtar Kelimeler

: communitarianism, competitive federatism, democracy, institutional livafry mutticutturalism, multicultural society, pluralism (ethical), toleration

Kaynakça

• Barry, Norman (19961), Classical Liberalism in the Age ofPost-Communism (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar).