Abstract
ABSTRACT For many scholars who worry about the future of liberal democracy, a central challenge has been to conceive civic and national identities that are robust enough to sustain collective action without defining the criteria of shared membership in ways that are too narrow, exclusive, or inaccessible. This essay addresses the familiar questions that lie at the heart of this challenge – who belongs? and on what terms? - but with a double twist: First, I reflect on the normative questions posed by political theorists about ”belonging,“ but do so in dialogue with the empirical evidence generated by a cross-national opinion survey on national identity undertaken by the Pew Research Center. Second, I explore the Canadian case in greater detail, suggesting that sharing customs and traditions, anchored to and validated by the Charter of Rights, may be a surprising and under-utilized resource in establishing a more flexible account of belonging.
Published Version
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