This volume explores recent developments in the theory and practice of accommodating cultural diversity within democratic constitutional orders. The aim of the book is to provide a broad vision of the constitutional management of cultural diversity as seen through the prisms of different disciplines and experiences, both theoretical and practical. The contributions, which come from Canada and Europe, comprise a review of the evolving theory of cultural diversity, followed by two main case studies: a substantive study of the accommodation of indigenous peoples within different constitutional orders and, secondly, the importance of constitutional interpretation to the development of cultural diversity in complex pluralist democracies such as Australia, Canada and the UK.
Biography
Stephen Tierney is Reader in Law at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
'There is hardly a more pressing question nor a more difficult one for constitutional law than the accommodation of different cultural traditions within the same polity. This collection of essays, with a distinctly Canadian focus to it, contributes both theoretical analysis and practical experience towards an understanding of how entrenched difference may be approached. Some of the essays are genuine heavyweight discussion and, as a whole, the writers do not give up on the possibility of obtaining workable and just solutions to the most intractable of problems.' Colin Warbrick, Birmingham University 'This is an excellent collection, one of the very best in recent years to examine the legal problems of multiculturalism. The text is self-consciously both 'local' and 'cosmopolitan'. It draws heavily on Canada as perhaps the most fertile source of the theory and practice of legal multiculturalism in recent years. But it also broadens its horizons to make a fine contribution to the debate on multiculturalism in general. It should figure high on the reading list of anyone interested in what is destined to be the key constiutional question of the new century.' Neil Walker, European University Institute, Florence
