Multicultural Odysseys: The Role of International Institutions and Legal Norms
Abstract
Will Kymlicka’s new book focuses on the global and regional diffusion of liberal
multiculturalism, a concept that he has defended as an ideal in his earlier work. In his
view, culture is a primary good, one that is necessary for individuals to become autonomous
and that should therefore be equally distributed. Minorities are at a disadvantage
given that only the majority or dominant culture is accessible to all through education
(etc.) as a free public good. The ethnocultural minorities that Will Kymlicka considers
include the three pillars of his own country Canada: indigenous peoples, national minorities
and ‘new’ minorities (in Canada Native Indian tribes known as first nations,
English and French settlers’ descendants known as founding peoples and then all the subsequent
immigrants) (...).