"It is tempting to think of liberal democracy in terms of immortality. Democracies have survived wars and depressions, Nazis and communists. At the end of the Cold War Francis Fukuyama famously declared the "end of history." The Culturalist Challenge to Liberal Republicanism questions the robustness of liberal democracy. While it does not conclude that regime mortality is imminent, it is does seek to assess the risks posed by multiculturalism and other forms of "culturalism." The book is divided into two parts. The first establishes the nature of the current regime, and explores the emergence of a cogent theory of justice grounded in both liberal and republican theory. The second demonstrates the inconsistencies between this "liberal republicanism" and culturalist theories of justice.

It concludes that the narrowness of liberal republican justice is ameliorated by multiculturalism, but the hidden danger is that multiculturalism can serve as a stalking horse for more pernicious agendas. The book explores both the institutional and cultural implications for the tension between culturalism and liberal republicanism. It seeks a balanced view that falls somewhere between Fukuyama's general optimism for regime mortality and the pessimism inherent in the work of more conservative theorists like Samuel Huntington. Given the increasing cultural diversity faced by North American and European nations, the book has important implications for political stability in the 21st century."--.