Minorities Citizenship and Democracy

By Zubair Ahmad Bader

Introduction

Contemporary democratic states have mostly emerged out of liberal revolution with

an idea of freedom and empowerment for the people. The idea of freedom and

empowerment in democratic states has been informed by a notion of 'rights' which

are guaranteed by the state, secured within a citizenship framework, protected from

the state encroachment, and even applied against the state. This idea has however

largely been defined within the conceptual vocabulary of universalism-of equal moral

worth, of equal citizenship status, and of equal protection of the law, by the modern

political theory. The universality of law and equal moral worth before the law were

juxtaposed within the idea of citizenship for all which although implies an idea of

the universality of citizenship but does not ensure the equal impact of law on all the

individuals. The idea of neutrality that is embedded in the universalist idea of

citizenship not only constrains the equal exercise of citizenship rights but even denies

the opportunities for equal participation in the political processes for the minority

communities against whom the power structures like religion, ethnicity, language, and

caste may effectively operate. Therefore, what becomes important and interesting to

ask is whether the rights of all the people are secured and protected, even of

minorities?

The renewed interest of political theorists in citizenship studies have highlighted new

power structures which operate in a majority-minority framework, of which the

culture remains the most important structure vying for recognition and pushing for a

the shift in the universal citizenship framework from transcending the cultural

particularity and differences to recognizing them. In the last two to three decades

when the contemporary liberal democratic states have become increasingly

multicultural, a wider shift has been allowed to be introduced in the polity of these

states which not only allow a wider basis for the recognition of the minority claims

but considers it more appropriate. As a result, a new school of theorists has come up

who assume the citizenship framework to be culture and difference sensitive rather

than difference-blind, popularly referred to as minority rights theorists or

multicultural theorists.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09YNC9JGQ
• ISBN13: 9798210244734
• Release Date: April 2022
• Publisher: Department of Political Science Faculty of So
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"