Democracy and Multiculturalism
By Aaron Aristotele The Haque University Den Haag NL First year European Studies Democracy and Multiculturalism One of the biggest issues facing liberal democracies today is the politicization of ethnocultural diversity. Minority cultures are demanding a bigger exposure of their distinctive identity, and greater freedom and opportunity to retain and develop their cultural practices. Ethnocultural relations are often complicated and cannot be explained using simple categories or easy answers Two kinds of minority cultures Multination states: We often describe independent countries as nation states. In fact, many are multi-national, united together by same language, occupying a piece of land and sharing a distinctive culture. Example is Israel, where many Jews and Palestinians live in co-existence. North American minorities such as American-Indians, Hispanics Polytechnic states: A second source of diversity is immigration, particularly when...