Will Kymlicka. Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity

Will Kymlicka. Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 374 pp. Bibliography. Index. $39.95 hc. Canada is a pioneer in multicultural policy, and Canadian political philosopher Will Kymlicka is an internationally recognized authority on multiculturalism. The range, research, and relevance of this intellectually rigorous and textured book are impressive. Kymlicka examines the origins and forms of multiculturalism, the diffusion of the idea by international organizations, and the experiences of Western, post-communist, and post-colonial states. multiculturalists believe that the recognition and accommodation of ethnic diversity contributes to expanding human rights and freedoms, to strengthening democratic institutions, and to diminishing ethnic hierarchies. Kymlicka draws on Canadian practices, and Canadianists will be familiar with them, but Canada is but one state sampled in his global compass, and thus there are comparative lessons to be drawn. The book will be of interest to students of international institutions and political theory and to comparativists focussed on ethnocultural questions. A self-professed liberal foot soldier (7) and fellow traveller (15) of the global policy networks engaged in liberal multicultural discourse, Kymlicka is hopeful, but somewhat uncertain, frustrated, and pessimistic about how to contribute to advancing and internationalizing his position. He points, for example, to some perverse results of the liberal multicultural policies pursued by some organizations, and he is sceptical about their efforts. The liberal multicultural project must, nevertheless, be risked, he believes, however modest the effort and however challenging the conundrums it poses in different societal contexts. Kymlicka's analysis is sophisticated and sobering, nuanced if not neutral. Kymlicka uses as an umbrella term to refer to policies related to non-dominant ethnocultural groups, but the term itself, as he acknowledges, is problematic. Most commonly deployed in the West, both governmental and nongovernmental international organizations generally shun it and often prefer cultural diversity, minorities, pluriculturalism, and interculturalism. In some states, as in Britain where is the preferred term, it refers only to newer immigrant groups and not, for example, the Welsh. As in his Canadian work, Kymlicka uses to include national minorities (e.g., French Canadians) and indigenous peoples (e.g., the Metis and what are now termed First Nations), as well as immigrant groups. Liberal multiculturalism implies that multicultural policies, intended to advance and preserve vulnerable minority groups, will be consistent with the foundational principles of individual freedom, equality, and a democratic polity. …

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