Who judges? Democracy and the dilemmas of multiculturalism

Among the many interesting problems considered in this book, I will center my commentary on two issues: (1) on the role of narrative reconstructions as an alternative to objectivist accounts of culture; (2) on the implications of her proposed reformulation of discourse ethics as interactive universalism for the dilemmas of multiculturalism. On the question of the dialogical-narrative reconstructions of identity, a combination of perspectives of participants as well as of external observers is suggested, instead of a shift from the latter to the former. On the more difficult question of the political, legal and moral implications for democratic theory of forms of rational accommodation of cultural differences, I will consider the problem of justification of morality under conditions not only of radical cultural differences but of asymmetries in power and resources among the participants, which seem to present a problem for a model that presupposes a cooperative engagement and free uncoerced consent from all involved.