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What Rights for Illiberal Communities?

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What Rights for Illiberal Communities? 122 Chandran Kukatms detention camps have drawn considerable public coricisrn, particularly in YlCW of me num~ at cases of dctmtion·induccd menial illness and su icide. For a rt«nt utatment of the- issue, itt Pt­ ItT Mares, Bord~/",e: Au!;trailas Treatmmt of Re{ugus and Asylum Sulum (Sydney: Univ~ of New South Wales Press, 2001). 15. There is no reason in principle, however, why admitting asylum 5eekers as refugees n~ ~ especially expensive unless they arc entitled to extensive welfare services. The problem is thit it may not be easy to have differing emillements for some residents--or, for that matter, dcsirabk 16. I am grateful to William Maley for this statistic, accurate in July 2001. 7 17. This is, of course, a highly contcntious area. I make these arguments because I have ~ - persuaded by the wrirings of development economists such as Peter Bauer and, mort recmdy, Deepak La!. Sec Peter Bauer, Disunt on Dewlopment (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, lIIn What Rights for Bauer, The Dewlopntnlt Frantin: Euays in AfJPlim Econom;(.$ (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University PrtsS, 1991); Lal, The Povnty of Dewlopment Economl(.$ (London: Institute of Ec0- nomic Affairs, 1991 ). Illiberal Communities? 18. It is inttI'CSting to note m thIS regard that a number of dedarattons of human rights '" Third World nations have taken pams to emphasize the ovenidmg importatlCe of national soW[. Michael Walzer eignty and the right of governments to govern without ourside interference. Sec, for example, tilt Bangkok Declaration (1993) and the Kuala Lumpur Dedaration (a lso 1993). 19. Miller, Citizenship, 127-141. ThiS sccrion reveals a sophistication in Miller's analysis tlilt my arguments here may appear to overlook, but I think my criticisms of his assumption that the state is a namral reference group hold in spite of his recognition that devolutionary measurts ImY sometimes be neo;essary or wise. 20. Somewhat perversely, perhaps, the only way to disentangle o~lf from a state is often III try to form a new ODC. My concern heu, however. is not to advance a case for secession but so. ply 10 draw attention to the moral arbitrariness of state membership. This would be even il"IOI't What is the meaning of the "cultura l rights" demanded by so many minority abundantl y clear when one considers how often secessionist movements themselves reflect 001: to religious and ethnic communities in the modern world? And how far can lib­ much popular desires for separateness as political OpPOrtunism on the part of the advocates oi. eral democratic or social democratic nation-states go in accommodating com­ new state. munities of these kinds? These seem to me the crucial questions raised by re­ 21. Noel Malcolm, Bosma: A Short HIStory (london: Macmillan, 1996), 1. cent arguments for "multicultural citizenship"--they point to the conflicts 22. Figures from G. P. O'Driscoll, Kim R. Holmes, and Melanie Kirkpatrick, cds., 2001 lndtt of Economic Frudom (New York and Washington, D.C.: Wall Strtet journal and Heritage Foun­ that erupt in actually existing pluralist societies and to the likely political 1 dation, 2001), 375-378. flrestorms. In his book On Nationality and again in Citizenship and National 23. Both quotations come from ~A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality," in jean-Jacqud Identity, David Miller addresses some of these questions, but he focuses only Rousseau, The Social Contract and DiJcourses, translated and introduced by G. D. H. Cole, It' bnefly on what seems to me the hardest of them, which has to do with cul­ vised by J. H. Brumfitt and John C. Hall, updated by P. D. jimack (London; Everyman, 199J ~ural r pr.oduction.2 I want to take up this question in a way that roughly fol­ 98-99. 7 24. ~ All ran headlong into (heir chainl, in hopes of securing their liberty; for they had jUSf"'It >OWS hiS hne of argument, but with a somewhat higher level of anxiety than he enough to perceive the advantages of political institutions, without experience enough to enablt d,splays. them to fortscC the dangers." Rousseau, Sot:ial ContTad, 99. b For my purposes here, I shall take Miller's "nationality principle" to articu­ 25. Both quotations from Miller, Principles, 18. hte a strong version of citizenship, holding that citizens must share a common 26. Miller, Principles, 18. [Story and political culture. How then should they deal with minority com­ 27. Miller, "Justice and Global Inequality," 193. 28. Miller, ~ justice and Global Inequality," 193-196. ~Ullit ies whose members don't quite share, or don't acknowledge sharing, ei­ 29. Fot a thorough investigalion of this aspect of the state, see james Scott, Suing Lik.e a St;J/t ~~~ of these, or who d.o?'t att~ibute importance to them? How should people (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998). f are, so to speak, cltlzens first, relate to people who are members first? Be­ 30. Arguably, one aspect of Miller's position that ought to have received careful considCf2ri()ll' ~re answering this question, however, I need to say something about the kinds his theory of deliberative democracy, which is at the heart of his aocount of the political pfOCCI' / cOmmunities and the kinds of membership that are at issue here. If we are through which social justice is 10 be secured. This issue is taken up by other chapters in this "oll,Jllll' 31. Sec Miller, Principks. 253. This is another aspect of Miller's argument that I have no!""­ ~ argue usefully about the poli tical culture of a pluralist democracy, we have dressed in detail, though again other contributors to this volume have done so. pay attention to the sociology of group life. 32. Millet. Principles, 246. ;;olhe strong version of citizenship that I take Miller to defend (which he distin­ ~ from one stronger still) would raise no problems with "cultural rights" of 124 Michael Walzer What Rights (or fIIiberal Communities? 125 a certain sort. It would accommodate rights to voluntary self-organization by mi­ gitimacy, even though they don't pay for bur only license and certify the nority communities, and to the free and open use of a communal language in rit­ parochial. sch~I~: they commonly require courses on American history and ual or domestic settings and (perhaps) in some political settings, and to some de­ democratiC pohncs. And isn't it a justifiable practice for democratic citizens gree of public recognition of the community in museums and monuments and exactly as it.is for strongly identified Italians or faithful Catholics, to try to re~ even in the state calendar---so long as the priority of the culture of citizenship Was produce their values and commitments in the next generation? not thereby challenged. Ye~, it is justifiable, and it is also possible, most of the time, to arrange for But the core meaning of cultural rights has been shaped in response to the the Simultaneous enactment of these different reproductive/educational activi­ problems many communities have, because they are small and relatively pow· ties ... because each of the three communities I am now considering is pre­ erless, in reproducing themselves. Their members look for protection, maybe pared to accept the divided loyalties of its members. The United States has also for help, and this is the claim they make on their fellow citizens (whom long acknowledged the pluralism of American society and the resulting hy­ they mayor may not acknowledge as "fellows"); that all ethnic and religious phenated identities of its citizens (it even permits, in practice if not in law, dual and, maybe, political and ideological communities have a right to reproduce citizenship and the twofold allegiance that this entails). So, "Italian American" themselves or, at least, to try to do that-which means, they have a right to is fine with other Americans-as it is, also, with [talians-in-America, whose raise and educate their own children. They may also claim a right to state as­ community is very loosely structured, ready to accommodate the participation sistance in this project, since they will often be hard-pressed to fund it on their of its members in American politics and in American society generally, and to own. accept, however unhappily, the consequences of this participation: namely, "The right to try.... " If that sounds like an easy right, readily acknowl· members who come and go, who move away from Italianess and then some­ edged, uncontested, it isn't. It isn't easy, above all, because in so much of the times, return, often with non-Italian husbands or wives in tow. In simil~r fash­ modem world people belong to more than one communiry, and so "cultural ion, American Catholicism has gradually accommodated itself to the practices reproduction" is likely to require that their children be taught more than all!: and even to the values of democratic debate and decision (despite its own hi­ culture--crucially, for out purposes, the culture of the minority community erarchical character}--so that faithful Catholics can also be Democrats and and of the democratic state. But the teachings may be inconsistent, even con­ Republicans, liberals and conservatives, socialists and defenders of laissez­ tradictory; and there are sure to be conflicts over which teaching takes prea­ faire. These th~ee communities, then, have been pluralized from within, and as dence and over who, finally, is in control of the educational process. These a result t.h~ dalln~ t~ey make to reproduce themselves are already qualified by conflicts can be wrenching for individuals, and when they are acted out polit· a recognitIOn of Similar (but different) claims made on behalf of some or even ically they can significantly divide the country (any country).
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