Just, Reasonable Multiculturalism

Raphael Cohen-Almagor is Professor and Chair in Politics, and Founding Director of the Middle East Study Group at the University of Hull. He has held teaching positions at Jerusalem, Haifa, UCLA, and Johns Hopkins University. Previously, he was Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Distinguished Visiting Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London. He is the author of many books, most recently Confronting the Internet's Dark Side (2015).

• Introduction; Part I. Theory: 1. Just liberal democracy; 2. Reasonable multiculturalism; 3. Compromise and deliberative democracy; 4. Coercion; Part II. Interference in Minority Affairs – Physical Harm: 5. Murder and torture for tradition and honour; 6. Male circumcision; Part III. Interference in Minority Affair – Non-Physical Harm: 7. Discrimination of women and apostates; 8. Denying education to children; Part IV. Country Case Studies: 9. Multiculturalism v. security considerations: behind French veil of ignorance; 10. Multiculturalism v. security considerations: Israeli discrimination of its Arab/Palestinian citizens.

'What do you get by insisting on an established set of liberal-democratic values such as justice, reciprocity, autonomy, and not harming others? You get, according to this timely new book, an inescapable defence of reasonable multiculturalism and a principled rejection of unreasonable multiculturalism. Weaving through a thicket of controversial minority cultural practices and nation-state majoritarianism, Raphael Cohen-Almagor presents a powerful liberal-democratic case for the conditional accommodation of cultural traditions.' Geoffrey Brahm Levey, UNSW Sydney