Communitarianism is an internationally contentious anti-liberal theory which is becoming increasingly popular in political philosophy. It commonly is employed to motivate and legitimate �identity politics� - a politics which is used to defend the rights of disadvantaged aboriginal minorities to maintain their traditional ways.
Recently �identity politics� has been exploited in mainstream poltical/educational academic literature in New Zealand, especially in literature that deals with Maori issues. This is significant because in the recent history of New Zealand, liberal political theory has been dominant.
Notions of rights and of fairness are fundamental to communitarianism and to liberalism, but communitarians and liberals hold very different ideas about what these notions involve. My PhD thesis compares their ideas and relates them to New Zealand. It views certain social and political issues in New Zealand, by way of liberal and then communitarian theories. It examines how liberalism and communitarianism have been, and can be, used to support and to legitimate particular policies and practices in terms of �fairness� and �justice�.
My work considers the explanatory and the practical application of communitarianism and liberalism with respect to their conceptions of human nature, political ideals, rights and rationality. It defends liberalism against the communities the protections they �need� in order to flourish. With respect to New Zealand it recognises that Maori have been treated unjustly by the crown, but argues that much of the injustice happened, not because of liberalism, but because liberal values were not upheld.
The thesis concludes that liberalism is better equipped than communitarianism to describe Maori and Pakeha relations, and to formulate a framework for positive and constructive trans-cultural policies that will respect both Maori and Pakeha cultures.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217621 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Gasson, Ruth, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Faculty of Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Ruth Gasson |
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