Constructing democratic citizenship in a religious-diverse political community

How are we to live together under conditions of deep diversity, especially religious diversity? This is the question pursued in this dissertation. In examining the literature on political belonging under conditions of deep religious diversity a paradox can sometimes be found. On the one hand, it is claimed that a thicker version of democratic citizenship is necessary to bridge across difference and make life-together possible. On the other hand, realizing a thicker version of democratic citizenship seems to conflict with the pursuit of equal citizenship. In this dissertation, I intend to engage this paradox. To this purpose, I critically examine three distinct normative approaches to the question of citizenship in diverse societies: John Rawls’s political liberal approach, David Miller’s national republican approach, and Ceclie Laborde’s critical republican approach. I will be arguing that, out of the three, Laborde’s critical republicanism provides the best framework for addressing the challenge, still her politics of non-domination falls short of realizing equal democratic citizenship. Building on Laborde, I take domination to be the key normative issue raised in attempts to democratically engage deep diversity, but I argue that Laborde misidentifies the nature of the problem by misconceiving what is at stake in religious identity. The realization of democratic citizenship in a religious-diverse political community – I contend – requires a politics of recognition and a bridging model of social solidarity to be constructed through a politics of the everyday creating flexible communities that are open and inclusive.