Future of Democracy & Multiculturalism

For centuries, democracy has been struggling against absolute of constitutional monarchy, colonialism, populist dictatorships from Napoleon to Hitler, and the Communist threat. Now for the first time, democracy stands unchallenged as the world's only legitimate form of government.

Yet, today many see a threat to this hegemony, and once more it is a threat from within, though not this time the subversive threat of a foreign ideology as such. One of the current buzzwords in academic circles, and wherever critics of academia gather, is multiculturalism, a term that turns the old idea of the American melting pot on its head. Instead of a melting pot, we now have ethnic and cultural stratification, with each represented culture in American society vying for the right to retain its original character and even to promote it through education to other groups. Much of the argument over this issue takes on the form of near-hysteria about what will happen to democracy if multiculturalism flourishes and about how undemocratic and anti-academic-freedom multiculturalism is. An examination of the future of democracy given this trend is in order.

Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr.also notes the end of the tensions of the cold war era, but he also finds that this does not mean the end of history as has been touted by some. Indeed, we are exchanging

. . .
evelopments in the guise of ancient hatreds: But recent news accounts that depict the violence as an outgrowth of old animosities are misleading. Hindus and Muslims in India under the Mughal emperor Akbar, the nationalistic leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress governments of Jawaharlal Nehru have gotten along more often than they have gone for each other's throats. So did Serbs, Croats and Muslims under Tito in Yugoslavia. Clinton and others too easily invoke "ancient hatreds" to explain what are really contemporary conflicts. The question in other words, is not why old conflicts are flaring up anew, but rather why traditionally harmonious mosaics have been shattered. The answer to this question could be important not only to the future of democracy in much of the world but in the United States as well, for if it can happen elsewhere, it could happen here if the same forces are at work. In a sense, though, there have always been wars and ethnic conflicts in some part of the world. The U.S. has had them as well, and in the late 1960s it appeared for a time as if certain black power groups might be waging such a war on the United States. One of the reasons why the conflicts stand out so starkly at the present time
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Schlesinger America, Barber America, East European, Hitler Communist, Bronislaw Geremek, Yugoslavia Clinton, Vietnam S&L, European American, Eastern Europe, Schlesinger Jralso, political commons, ancient hatreds, stumbling block democratization, block democratization, themselves nation, ethnic conflicts, future democracy, cultural identity, democracy world, stumbling block, east european, legitimate form government,
Approximate Word count = 1711
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Future of Democracy & Multiculturalism