The Cultural Defense of Nations: A Liberal Theory of
Majority Rights
by Liav Orgad (Author)
Never in human history has so much attention been paid
to human movement. Global migration yields demographic shifts of historical
significance, profoundly shaking up world politics as has been seen in the
refugee crisis, the Brexit referendum, and the 2016 US election.
The Cultural Defense of Nations addresses one of the
greatest challenges facing liberalism today: is a liberal state justified in
restricting immigration and access to citizenship in order to protect its
majority culture? Liberal theorists and human rights advocates recognize the
rights of minorities to maintain their unique cultural identity, but assume
that majorities have neither a need for similar rights nor a moral ground for
defending them. The majority culture, so the argument goes, "can take care
of itself." However, with more than 250 million immigrants worldwide,
majority groups increasingly seek to protect what they consider to be their
national identity. In recent years, liberal democracies have introduced
proactive immigration and citizenship policies that are designed to defend the
majority culture.
This book shifts the focus from the prevailing
discussion of cultural minority rights, for the first time directly addressing
the cultural rights of majoritiesand, for the first time, addressed the
cultural rights of majorities. It proposes a new approach by which liberal
democracies can welcome immigrants without fundamentally changing their
cultural heritage, forsaking their liberal traditions, or slipping into extreme
nationalism.
Disregarding the topic of cultural majority rights is
not only theoretically wrong, but also politically unwise. With forms of
"majority nationalism" rising and the growing popularity of extreme
right-wing parties in the West, the time has come to liberally address
contemporary challenges.
