Can Collective and Individual Rights Coexist?*

Abstract

This chapter considers whether individual and collective rights can coexist within the same normative discourse, potentially forming complementary components of an approach to inter-cultural justice. On the basis of the approach here taken to rights and, in particular, collective rights, it is argued that prevalent claims of inevitable and endemic conflicts between such rights cannot be sustained. Various conceptions of collective rights have recently been debated in the legal and philosophical literature. The liberal fear of collective rights is not simply based on the possibility that they may in some instances conflict with and, perhaps, defeat individual rights. The concern is often that they are inimical to individual rights and will inevitably undermine the moral primacy of the individual in moral and legal thought. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how genuine cases of conflicting individual and collective rights can be constructively approached.