Value Pluralism and Multinational Federalism

Abstract

This article is mainly concerned with the notion of value pluralism. In the first section I present it as a theory of the structure of moral normativity in liberal democracies, and defend its greater suitability compared with rival theories in attempting to revise democratic liberalism from the perspective of the cultural, national and normative pluralism of present‐day democracies. In the second section, I link value pluralism with multinational federations in order to discuss its role in establishing the recognition of national pluralism, a plurinational division of powers, the participation of the different national collectives in the processes of constitutional reform, and the constitutional regulation of the right of self‐determination, following the 1998 decision of the Canadian Supreme Court.