Abstract
In contemporary multicultural societies, a main source of social and political tension lies in the ongoing process of the symbolic definition of the difference between what it means to be a (good) citizen and what it means to be culturally suited to fit within the values embedded into citizenship. The definition of the formal and symbolic content of citizenship entails important normative questions regarding whether a model of citizenship offers satisfactory normative and political resources to promote a fair and actual democratic accommodation of cultural minorities. In this perspective, this article attempts to assess the potential of democratic integration inherent in a particular model of citizenship, namely the French Republican one. On the basis of the controversy leading to the law banning the headscarf from public schools in 2004, it shows that this ban is the result of some logical and political inconsistencies that are endogenous to the political grammar inherent to the French Republican model of citizenship and that such inconsistencies call into question part of its potential to democratically manage an increasingly multicultural society.
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On February 10, 2004, the National Assembly voted by an overwhelming majority of 494 for to 36 against, with 31 abstentions, to ban the wearing of religious symbols from public schools.
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In 2003, the government created the Conseil Français pour le Culte Musulmans (CFCM), which is a consultative organization that represents the main religious and cultural tendencies of French Muslims. Basically, the main idea underlying the creation of this institution is to give a representation to mild and republican ways to live Islam and, at the same time, reject radical groups, which are considered as incompatible with republican standards.
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Gianni, M. (2013). The Democratic Integration of Difference: Reflections on the Paradoxes of the French Republican Model of Citizenship. In: Merle, JC. (eds) Spheres of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5998-5_31
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