The transformation of contemporary American liberalism and the revision of "Minority Rights" Theories: Theoretical and practical consequences of "Liberalism Debate"

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This research first examined the recent developments of minority rights theories and their critics. It revealed that the recent writings of major minority rights theorists such as Kymlicka are heavily influenced by recent theory of Iris Young, who attempts to include identity claims of woman, elderly people and handicapped. The research also attempted to show that a workable differentiation of recent objections to minority rights argument can be classified into rights-based objections, basic rights objections, and equality objections, respectively. Finally, it also found out that the recent theories of minority rights seem to share some common grounds with the theories of deliberative democracies and theories of citizenship since minority theorists today are really keen to secure social integration.Second, this research also attempted to compare the features of contemporary American minority rights arguments with those of minority theories of different times and places. It found out that contemporary American arguments have significant affinities with those of inter-war America and Britain who also suffered from conflicts among minority cultures. It also found out that contemporary American arguments have affinities with postwar Japanese liberal arguments in the sense that both of these arguments have serious concerns with diversity and pluralities.