How should liberal democratic governments respond to citizens as religious believers whose values, norms and practices might lie outside the cultural mainstream? Some of the most challenging political questions arising today focus on the adequacy of a policy of 'live and let live' liberal toleration in contexts where disputes about the metaphysical truth of conflicting world-views abound. Does liberal toleration fail to give all citizens their due? Do citizens of faith deserve a more robust form of accommodation from the state in the form of 'recognition'. This issue is far from settled. Controversies over the terms of religious accommodation continue to dominate political agendas around the world. This is the first edited collection to provide a sustained examination of the politics of toleration and recognition in an age of religious pluralism. The aftermath of the events of September 11th have dramatised the urgency of this debate. It has also surfaced, nationally and globally, in disputes about terrorism, security and gender and human rights questions in relation to minority communities. This volume brings together a group of new and established scholars from the fields of law and philosophy, who all present fresh and challenging perspectives on an urgent debate. It will be indispensable reading for advanced researchers in political and legal philosophy, religious and cultural studies and related disciplines.

In the light of intense international focus on ongoing forms of world poverty, this book examines the potential of the concept of recognition in contemporary political philosophy to respond morally to this dire condition.

How should liberal democratic governments respond to citizens as religious believers whose values, norms and practices might lie outside the cultural mainstream? Some of the most challenging political questions arising today focus on the adequacy of a policy of 'live and let live' liberal toleration in contexts where disputes about the metaphysical truth of conflicting world-views abound. Does liberal toleration fail to give all citizens their due? Do citizens of faith deserve a more robust form of accommodation from the state in the form of 'recognition'. This issue is far from settled. Controversies over the terms of religious accommodation continue to dominate political agendas around the world. This is the first edited collection to provide a sustained examination of the politics of toleration and recognition in an age of religious pluralism. The aftermath of the events of September 11th have dramatised the urgency of this debate. It has also surfaced, nationally and globally, in disputes about terrorism, security and gender and human rights questions in relation to minority communities. This volume brings together a group of new and established scholars from the fields of law and philosophy, who all present fresh and challenging perspectives on an urgent debate. It will be indispensable reading for advanced researchers in political and legal philosophy, religious and cultural studies and related disciplines.

How can one negotiate and integrate the claims of feminism and multiculturalism through a discourse of rights? This is a timely question: the apparent opposition between feminist and multicultural justice is a central problem in contemporary political theory. It also responds to a deep suspicion about invoking a political discourse that is accused of being either eurocentric, androcentric or both. In this book Monica Mookherjee draws on Iris Young's idea of 'gender as seriality' in order to reconfigure feminism in a way that responds to cultural diversity. She contends that a discourse of rights can be formulated and that this task is crucial to negotiating a balance between women's interests and multicultural claims. The argument is worked through in the context of a set of difficult dilemmas in modern liberal democracies: *the resurgence of the feminist controversy over the Hindu practice of widow-immolation (sati) *gender-discriminatory Muslim divorce laws in the famous Shah Bano controversy in India *forced marriage in South Asian communities in the UK *the rights of evangelical Christian parents to exempt their children from secular education *the recent controversy about the rights of Muslim girls to wear the hijab in state schools in France This valuable and innovative perspective on an important contemporary issue aims to stimulate debate about a set of important concepts central to discourses of feminism and multiculturalism in contemporary political philosophy, including human rights and capabilities, toleration, citizenship practices, cultural rights, the ethic of care, communitarianism and the politics of recognition.

How can one negotiate and integrate the claims of feminism and multiculturalism through a discourse of rights? This is a timely question: the apparent opposition between feminist and multicultural justice is a central problem in contemporary political theory. It also responds to a deep suspicion about invoking a political discourse that is accused of being either eurocentric, androcentric or both. In this book Monica Mookherjee draws on Iris Young's idea of 'gender as seriality' in order to reconfigure feminism in a way that responds to cultural diversity. She contends that a discourse of rights can be formulated and that this task is crucial to negotiating a balance between women's interests and multicultural claims. The argument is worked through in the context of a set of difficult dilemmas in modern liberal democracies: *the resurgence of the feminist controversy over the Hindu practice of widow-immolation (sati) *gender-discriminatory Muslim divorce laws in the famous Shah Bano controversy in India *forced marriage in South Asian communities in the UK *the rights of evangelical Christian parents to exempt their children from secular education *the recent controversy about the rights of Muslim girls to wear the hijab in state schools in France This valuable and innovative perspective on an important contemporary issue aims to stimulate debate about a set of important concepts central to discourses of feminism and multiculturalism in contemporary political philosophy, including human rights and capabilities, toleration, citizenship practices, cultural rights, the ethic of care, communitarianism and the politics of recognition.