A post-colonial end to history? A reflection on the relation between democracy and communitarianism

Abstract

Can democratic rights be claimed for cultural communities without subverting the first principle of democracy? What theoretical assumptions have to be made—implicitly ifnot explicitly—to posit the sociological existence of a cultural collective as the first step towards mounting a political movement critical of a liberal system of governance founded upon the idea of citizenship? This article tries to address these questions through a textual analysis of two essays arguing for the political rights of 'cultural communities'as a means towards enhancing a democratic political culture. It concludes with the argument that the theoretical process which goes into the construction of a communitarian collective inexorably leads to a position where 'identity' and 'history' are conflated to disable democratic movements.

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