The rise andfall ofmulticulturalism? 45
And this fear persists in relation to some recent immigrant groups. But at
least in relation to national minorities, it is now widely assumed that there is a
deep consensus across ethnic lines on basic values of liberal democracy and
human rights. As a result, it is assumed that any self-government powers
granted to national minorities will be exercised in accordance with shared
standards of democracy and human rights. Everyone accepts that minority
self-government will operate within the constraints of liberal-democratic constitutionalism,
which firmly upholds individual rights. Where minorities have
gained autonomy in the West, their self-governing institutions are subject to
the same constitutional constraints as the central government, and so have no
legal capacity to restrict individual freedoms in the name of cultural authenticity,
religious orthodoxy or racial purity. Not only is it legally impossible for
national minorities in the West to establish illiberal regimes, but they have no
wish to do so. On the contrary, all of the evidence suggests that members of
national minorities are at least as strongly committed to liberal-democratic
values as members of dominant groups, if not more so.11
This removes one of the central fears that dominant groups have about
minority autonomy. In many parts of the world, there is the fear that once
national minorities or indigenous peoples acquire self-governing power, they
will use it to persecute, dispossess, expel or kill anyone who does not belong
to the minority group. In Western democracies, this is a non-issue. Where
there is a strong consensus on liberal-democratic values, people feel confident
that however issues of multiculturalism are settled, their own civil and political
rights will be respected. No matter how the claims of ethnonational and
indigenous groups are resolved-no matter what language rights,
self-government rights, land rights, or multiculturalism policies are adoptedpeople
can rest assured that they won't be stripped of their citizenship, fired
from their jobs, subjected to ethnic cleansing, jailed without a fair trial, or
denied their rights to free speech, association and worship. Put simply, the
consensus on liberal-democratic values ensures that debates over accommodating
diversity are not a matter of life and death. As a result, dominant
groups will not fight to the death to resist minority claims. This, too, is a
precondition for the successful adoption of multicultural citizenship.
There are other factors that underpin the rise of multiculturalism in the
West, including demographic changes, but desecuritization and human rights
are pivotal. Where these two conditions are absent, multiculturalism is
unlikely to emerge, except perhaps as the outcome of violent struggle or
external imposition. These two factors not only help explain the rise of multiculturalism,
but also help explain the partial retreat from multiculturalism in
some countries in relation to recent Muslim immigrants, who are often seen
as both disloyal and illiberal. There are other factors at play as well in
the backlash against immigrant multiculturalism, including concerns about
illegal immigration, and about the economic burden of supporting unemployed
immigrants, as well as old-fashioned racial prejudice.12
For many
people, the latter is the key factor. But of course prejudice is found in all
The rise andfall ofmulticulturalism? 49
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