The Ties That Bind

Modern states – and novel multinational polities such as the European Union – have to contend with greater degrees, and more complex forms, of diversity. What elements keep complex, "post-national", political entities together ? What are the ties that bind people together in a world where they cannot rely on the safety of established national identifications (if they ever could)? This collection of essays by leading political scientists, philosophers and legal academics from Canada and Europe provides a transatlantic dialogue on the ways in which complex states (such as Canada) and non-states (the EU) may broach the modes of difference and diversity that confront them.
Authors engage in insightful "diagnoses" of contemporary forms and modes of diversity, as well as critical appraisals of a number of normative responses meant to answer these challenges. These responses range from "reasonable accommodation" and multinationalism to cosmopolitanism. They include the recognition of "post-national", "multinational" or "deterritorialised" democracy and constitutional patriotism, as well as plural or "denationalised" citizenship.