Abstract

In this book Kymlicka attempts to confute two related criticisms of contemporary liberalism: first, that liberalism must understate the role played by communal relationships in our individual lives, and second, that liberalism cannot, without transgressing its own principles, defend the special legal protections which are often required for the continued existence of aboriginal cultures within the modern state. In responding to these critiques, Kymlicka employs the theoretical resources of the contemporary welfare-state liberalism delineated by Rawls and Dworkin.