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The Human Development Report and Cultural Liberty: Tough Liberalism
Author(s) -
Nederveen Pieterse Jan
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/j.0012-155x.2005.00464.x
Subject(s) - wright , liberalism , citation , sociology , media studies , library science , law , political science , history , art history , computer science , politics
In view of the political spillover of ethnic and religious movements — as in former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and several Muslim countries — the policy relevance of the cultural dimensions of development is increasingly prominent. So it is no wonder that this should play a large part in a Human Development Report devoted to culture; in fact, this Report addresses this theme head on. As its title indicates, this Report deals not merely with cultural diversity but with cultural liberty which, it argues, is its novel contribution to the debate. Liberty or freedom is the Report’s leitmotiv: ‘If what is ultimately important is cultural liberty, then the valuing of cultural diversity must take a contingent and conditional form. Much will depend on how that diversity is brought about and sustained’ (p. 16). In often paraphrased wording it adopts ‘a freedom-based defence of cultural diversity’ (p. 23). From this premise follows a critique of cultural conservatism: