Kukathas argues that we need to ‘reassert the fundamental importance of individual liberty or individual rights and question the idea that cultural minorities have collective rights’ (Kukathas 1992, 107). Groups matter but there is no need to ‘depart from the liberal language of individual rights to do justice to them’ (Kukathas 1992, 107). Kukathas argues for his thesis by focusing on the way are groups are formed. They are ‘not fixed and unchanging entities in the moral and political universe’ (Kukathas 1992, 110), their boundaries shift with the political context; their formation is ‘the product of environmental influences’ especially political institutions (Kukathas 1992, 111). Read more...

Tags: Kukathas