Cultural pluralism and dilemmas of justice /

Deveaux (Williams College) explores recent efforts in political theory to address the problem of justice for cultural minorities. The author focuses on two general themes. The first is to demonstrate that current political theorists have largely failed to respond adequately to the key issues raised by cultural diversity in democratic states. The second is a call for what she terms "respect for cultural pluralism," that is, arguing that governments should heed the demands for political respect and recognition of their cultural minorities. The volume bears some resemblance to the issues touched on in Narrative, Violence, and the Law, the Essays of Robert Clover, ed. by Martha Minow, Michael Ryan, and Austin Sarat (CH, Nov'93), and Elizabeth Hull's Without Justice for All: The Constitutional Rights of Aliens (CH, Dec'85). The writing style is very sophisticated and will be meaningful only to a learned audience. The text appears to have been well edited and contains a large and useful bibliography. Recommended for graduate and faculty collections. R. A. Carp University of Houston