Abstract
The chapters in this book deal with different, though related, topics concerning
the tense relationship between democracy and diversity. On the one hand,
social
diversity represents an opportunity, widening the horizon of social
options
and perspectives of innovation, but, on the other hand, it creates
problems for the social cohesion and peaceful coexistence of many groups, be
they majority or minority. The chapters depart from the intrinsic connection
between democracy and diversity – and the unavoidable challenges that pluralism
poses to decision-making procedures – investigating, from different perspectives,
how the normative requirement of fully respecting agents’ reflexive
agency impacts the revision of democratic decision-making procedures and
the way in which institutions react to citizens’ justice-based claims.