Part VII, ‘‘Pluralism, Multiculturalism, and Nationalism,’’ reXects areas of
debate that have proved particularly fruitful over the last thirty years. As
noted earlier in our introduction, it also reXects explorations of the implica-
tions and/or limits of the liberal tradition. The literature on multiculturalism
has its precursor in a sociological literature on cultural pluralism, but as
normative political theory dates from the 1980 s. Theoretical work on toler-
ation or the right of nations to self-determination is not, of course, new. But
the recent synthesis of liberalism with nationalism is more unexpected, as is
the reframing of long-established liberal principles of toleration to take
account of issues of identity as well as belief. This last point is part of what
unites the chapters in this section. All engage with arguments that have been
central to the liberal tradition, but in relation to the new questions that arise
when people make claims on the basis of identity. The authors reach very
diVerent conclusions—including, at its most heretical, that the pursuit of
justice may not be such a compelling concern.
Part VIII, ‘‘Claims in a Global Context,’’ takes this from the national to the
global level. It explores the debates that have developed between seemingly
universal discourses of secularism or human rights and more relativist em-
phases on cultural diVerence; examines the connection between multicultural
and post-colonial theory; and considers the challenges globalization presents
to current conceptions of justice. Although justice has been at the heart of
recent debates in normative political theory, the dominant conceptions have
been very state-centered—and often very Western state-centered. The chap-
ters in this section consider what happens in the move from national to
global—and what theoretical possibilities become available if the center of
gravity shifts from the Western to non-Western world.
Part IX, ‘‘The Body Politic,’’ takes what has long been employed as a metaphor
for the political community at its face (or bodily) value, and uses it to engage
with new areas of theoretical debate. These include the way the body itself has
been politicized in the theoretical literature, including in the literature on self-
ownership; and the way the social ‘‘body’’ has been politicized, as in the
discussion of crises and paranoia. A number of the chapters in this section
begin with changes in the social world: the impact of global migration, for
example, and the way this alters our understanding of the individual subject; the
development of new medical technologies, and the dilemmas these
present about organ transplants or genetic engineering; the developments
in surveillance technology combined with radical changes in the relation
between the sexes, and the challenge this poses to our understanding of the
introduction 33