Liberal Multiculturalism and the Ethics of Hospitality in the Age of Globalization

Abstract

The increasing political presence of refugees and immigrants in post—Cold war Europe has generated considerable debate about the nature of multicultural society. The demand for the recognition of cultural, racial, and ethnic differences has come to occupy a central place in the forms of postnational politics emergent today. Yet, a closer examination of the juridico-political regulations developed in response to these demands reveals a troubling tendency: cultural/ racial difference is translated into an understanding of cultural diversity that treats minorities, to use David Bennett’s term, as “add-ons” (“Introduction” 1998, 5) to the existing nation form. Thus, the question becomes whether such an “additive model” is capable of inducing a radical transformation in the concept of the sovereign position of the national self. This chapter addresses the limitations of this procedural multiculturalist valorization and argues that the liberal imperative to tolerate and respect cultural difference is far from displacing the sovereignty of the host society in question. In discussing these limitations, I will situate liberal multiculturalism in the context of today’s capitalist globalization.