Search Results

This book explores the challenges that culturally plural liberal states face when they hold competing political commitments to cultural rights and sexual equality, and advances an argument for resolving such dilemmas through democratic dialogue and negotiation. Exploring recent examples of gendered cultural conflicts in South Africa, Canada, and Britain, this study shows that there is an urgent need for workable strategies to mediate the antagonisms between the cultural practices and arrangements of certain ethno-cultural and religious groups, and the norms and constitutional rights endorsed by liberal states. Yet such strategies will be successful only insofar as they can resolve conflicts without either reinforcing women’s subordination within cultural communities or unjustly dismissing calls for cultural recognition and forms of self-governance. To this end, the book develops an approach to mediating cultural tensions that takes seriously the demands for justice by cultural and religious minorities in liberal democratic states. Grounded in an argument for democratic legitimacy, this approach invokes norms of political inclusion and democratic dialogue, and highlights negotiation and compromise as the best vehicles for arriving at resolutions to conflicts of cultural value. However, the book also reconceives the basis of democratic legitimacy so as to include not merely formal expressions of political consent, but also a range of informal democratic activities that occur in the private and social spheres, from acts of cultural reinvention and subversion to outright expressions of dissent and cultural refusal.

Constitutions divide into those which empower courts to strike down legislation which contravenes human rights and those which do not. The Human Rights Act 1998 is regarded as an example of a commonwealth model of rights protections. It is justified as a new form of protection of rights which promotes dialogue between the legislature and the courts; dialogue being seen not just as a better means of protecting rights, but as a new form of constitutionalism occupying a middle ground between legal and political constitutionalism. This book argues that there is no clear middle ground for dialogue to occupy. Most theories of legal and political constitutionalism combine legal and political protections and some provide an account of interactions between the legislature and the judiciary. Nevertheless, dialogue has a role to play. It differs from legal and political constitutionalism, being based on different assumptions. It focuses on analysing mechanisms of inter-institutional interactions, assessing when these interactions can provide a better protection of rights, facilitate deliberation, engage citizens, and act as an effective check and balance between institutions of the constitution. The book evaluates dialogue in the UK constitution, assessing the protection of human rights through the Human Rights Act 1998, the common law, and EU law. It also evaluates court–court dialogue between the UK courts and the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. The conclusion evaluates the implications of the proposed British Bill of Rights and the referendum decision to leave the European Union.

Throughout American history, the primary mission of public schools has been to prepare students to be effective citizens capable of sustaining a vibrant democracy. Over the past half century, however, most American schools have substantially neglected their responsibility to prepare students for civic participation. For example, in 2016, only 43% of voters under 25 turned out to vote and on the 2014 civics exam administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress only 23% of 18 year-olds performed at or above a “proficient” level. African-American and other students of color tend to experience an even more substantial “civic empowerment gap.” This book examines the causes of the decline in civic preparation, and proposes specific policies that states and school systems can adopt to reinvigorate the schools’ ability to prepare students to function productively as civic participants, and considers examples of best practices. Rebell further argues that this civic decline is also a legal failure—a gross violation of both federal and state constitutions. Building on the precedents in the education adequacy cases that have been litigated in 45 of 50 state courts, and the fact that the vast majority of these courts - and the Supreme Court - have specifically held that preparing students to be capable citizens is a primary purpose of public education, the author argues that adoption of effective solutions by states and school systems will require judicial intervention by both state and federal courts. The book proposes specific legal theories and litigation strategies for such court action.