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Expressive Interest and the Integrity of Hate Speakers

Andres Moles, p. 18–38

Abstract: The paper focuses on the claim that citizens’ expressive interests in speech warrant protection to hate speech. I analyse this view by exploring three different arguments that Ronald Dworkin has produced in recent years. The arguments I advance holds that Dworkin’s fails to show that such interests are sufficient for protection. Drawing from some research on social psychology I claim that hate speech is harmful in a justice-relevant manner. If I am correct, then, given Dworkin’s ideas about integrity and equality of resources, he cannot claim that restricting hate speech fails to treat speakers with less respect and concern.

Keywords: Automatic behaviour, autonomy, R. Dworkin, free speech, integrity

If You Praise Equal Respect, How Come You’re So Intolerant? Overcoming the French Republican Paradox

Sophie Guérard de Latour, p. 39–59

Abstract: In France, republicanism is the political tradition through which the French people interpret democratic and liberal ideals. Neverthless, by contrast with other liberal democracies, the French model of integration, based on the championing of colorblind universalism, often adopts a critical stance towards manifestations of cultural and ethnic identities. Therefore, it is often perceived as intolerant, as suggested by the numerous critics of the 2004 law banning ostentatious religious signs from state schools. As such, French republicanism seems to be paradoxically praising respect for all citizens while practicing intolerance towards members of ethnic minorities. To analyse this seeming paradox, the paper designs a typology to disentangle the different theoretical positions concerning the relationships of respect and tolerance within French republicanism. It thusly proposes to distinguish four different families (communitarian, perfectionist, pragmatic and critical republicans) and claims that the last one offers the best way to solve the French paradox.

Keywords: Citizenship, ethnic minorities, republicanism, respect, tolerance

‘Grand-Mosque’ Projects in Copenhagen: Intersections of Respect, Tolerance and Intolerance in the Distribution of Public Space

Sune Lægaard, p. 60–80

Abstract: This paper considers the recent Danish mosque debate as a debate about distribution of public space to a religious minority and asks whether and, if so, how the case can be described in terms of tolerance and respect. Tolerance and respect are regularly advanced at the level of political theory as concepts and values relevant to the handling of minority issues. This paper will use the concepts of tolerance and respect in relation to the Danish mosque-debate as expressed in political assemblies and public debate in two ways: It will test the applicability of the theoretical concepts and in the process draw out some general challenges and lessons concerning the practical applicability of these concepts. At the same time it will use the concepts as an interpretative framework to present and evaluate the actual policies regarding the distribution of public space for the building of mosques played out in the case. One lesson drawn from the exercise in application is that the concepts have a narrower application than often assumed and that application requires differentiation between different potential subjects of tolerance and respect.

Keywords: Toleration, respect, public space, mosque, Copenhagen

Spatial Marginalisation of Roma and Traveller Populations: A Comparative Study of Italy, Hungary, France and Wales

Gideon Calder, Francesco Chiesa, Mariann Dósa, Jean-Baptiste Duez and Chiara Testino, p. 81–100

Abstract: Roma and Traveller populations are typically marginalised in contemporary Europe, both geographically and in terms of access to resources and opportunities. In this article we describe and compare patterns of such marginalisation in four countries: Italy, Hungary, France and Wales. Our particular focal point is housing. There are clear patterns across the four featured countries in terms of the treatment of these groups, the wider politics surrounding this, and the conditions in which they live. This, we argue, provides fertile ground on which to pursue normative debate about the contemporary place, scope, appeal and implications of tolerance in public policy.

Keywords: social exclusion, Roma, Gypsy travellers, travellers, housing ,camps

Czech Policies of Building-Up Roma Civil Society as a Vehicle or Combating Social Exclusion

Lenka Strnadová, p. 101–127

Abstract: There is a bulk of literature covering the conceptual debate over the issue of terminological specificities and social and the political consequences of the notions of toleration and respect. I argue that democratic theory dealing with the issue of social and cultural integration and the construction of democratic legitimacy in heterogeneous societies cannot but make use of the ideal of respect as a principle complementing toleration. In addition, I analyze how the idea of inclusion, promoted by theories of deliberative democracy, can serve as a revised and more up-to-date version of toleration. Building upon the summarizing theoretical argument, this paper uses the example of the strategies of integration and inclusion of the Roma community in the Czech Republic and their public representation.

Keywords: toleration, inclusion, the Roma, public sphere