Seyla Benhabib is Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University. Her books include
Transformations of Citizenship (The Spinoza Lectures), The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt, and Situating
the Self. Among the volumes she has edited are Democracy and Difference (Princeton) and Feminism as Critique.
Review
"A brave and beautiful book that grows in power and poignancy after 9/11. Rejecting the dismal view that
the global world will be mired in the 'clash of civilizations' and the culture wars, Benhabib restores our faith
in the human need to narrativize the historical and cultural experiences of self and other. This wonderful work
allows us to hope that the contested conversations of mankind may converge in the intricate dialogues of the democratic
process."
--Homi K. Bhabha, Harvard University
"Seyla Benhabib's book presents a subtly defined, vigorously argued universalist position in democratic theory,
one that nevertheless accommodates (and essentially integrates) varieties of multiculturalism. It is especially
notable for going beyond the trite oppositions between the politics of cultural identity and the theory of deliberative
democracy."
--Amelie Rorty, Brandeis University
"Reading this book was a deeply satisfying experience. Benhabib's model of democracy is firmly rooted in a
systematic and well-developed moral theory, and her policy recommendations are informed both by extensive philosophical
reflection and by her uncompromising commitment to individual identity."
--Alison Jaggar, University of Colorado
Publisher Web Site, July, 2003
Summary
How can liberal democracy best be realized in a world fraught with conflicting new forms of identity politics
and intensifying conflicts over culture? This book brings unparalleled clarity to the contemporary debate over
this question. Maintaining that cultures are themselves torn by conflicts about their own boundaries, Seyla Benhabib
challenges the assumption shared by many theorists and activists that cultures are clearly defined wholes. She
argues that much debate--including that of "strong" multiculturalism, which sees cultures as distinct
pieces of a mosaic--is dominated by this faulty belief, one with grave consequences for how we think injustices
among groups should be redressed and human diversity achieved. Benhabib masterfully presents an alternative approach,
developing an understanding of cultures as continually creating, re-creating, and renegotiating the imagined boundaries
between "us" and "them."
Drawing on contemporary cultural politics from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, Benhabib develops
a double-track model of deliberative democracy that permits maximum cultural contestation within the official public
sphere as well as in and through social movements and the institutions of civil society. Agreeing with political
liberals that constitutional and legal universalism should be preserved at the level of polity, she nonetheless
contends that such a model is necessary to resolve multicultural conflicts.
Analyzing in detail the transformation of citizenship practices in European Union countries, Benhabib concludes
that flexible citizenship, certain kinds of legal pluralism and models of institutional powersharing are quite
compatible with deliberative democracy, as long as they are in accord with egalitarian reciprocity, voluntary self-ascription,
and freedom of exit and association. The Claims of Culture offers invaluable insight to all those, whether students
or scholars, lawyers or policymakers, who strive to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of cultural
politics in the twenty-first century.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
On the Use and Abuse of Culture
2. "Nous" et les "Autres" (We and the Others)
Is Universalism Ethnocentric?
3. From Redistribution to Recognition?
The Paradigm Change of Contemporary Politics
4. Multiculturalism and Gendered Citizenship
5. Deliberative Democracy and Multicultural Dilemmas
6. Who are "We"?
Dilemmas of Citizenship in Contemporary Europe
7. Conclusion What Lies beyond the Nation-State?
Notes
Bibliography
Index