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THE POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS OF AUSTRALIA'S PLURALIST SOCIETY
Author(s) -
Jayasuriya Laksiri
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1994.tb01015.x
Subject(s) - multiculturalism , politics , pluralism (philosophy) , democracy , postmodernism , project commissioning , citizenship , sociology , liberal democracy , context (archaeology) , publishing , political science , law , public administration , law and economics , political economy , social science , epistemology , biology , paleontology , philosophy
This article examines the political foundations of Australia as a multicultural nation in the context of the republican debate and the prospect of constitutional reform. In establishing a constitutional basis for the pluralism inherent in Australian society as it has evolved over lime demographically and normatively, there are symbolic and functional considerations which need to be addressed. It is argued that the key to restructuring the political foundations lies in a postmodern concept of citizenship based on a rights‐based society which gives formal recognition to differences within a liberal democratic framework.