Liberal Citizenship in a Multicultural Society : Brian Barry's and William Galston's Approaches to Citizenship

Abstract: This thesis demonstrates a comparative and analytic discussion of citizenship idea based on two distinct liberal doctrines of two contemporary political philosophers: Brian Barry and William Galston. Barry's egalitarian liberalism argues for 'common citizenship' notion in order to promote liberty and equal treatment of all individuals irrespective of any social differences. On the other hand, 'liberal pluralist citizenship' of William Galston's signifies his liberal pluralism to mitigate cultural and religious conflicts of liberal democratic society. The fundamental disagreements among these liberal approaches over the issues of public recognition of group rights and restricted state authority are analysed in this study. Finally, by analysing both the liberal positions under the challenge of multicultural issues the author defends Galston's liberal idea and judges it as more convincing than Barry's liberal approach.