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Individual Identity, Collective Identity and Human Dignity. What Are the Best Models to Accommodate Different Identities?

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Ethnic Diversity, Plural Democracy and Human Dignity

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 99))

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Abstract

The contribution addresses the different theoretical and multidisciplinary approaches and questions of individualism/abstract citizenship and collectivism/substantial citizenship and corresponding individual and collective identities, politics of recognition, liberal and communitarian perspectives, and recent developments within the stream of liberal multiculturalism. Moreover, this article deals with different models, constitutional arrangements and international human rights law provisions that give priority either to individuals or to collectives. Human dignity as a value has been used as a foundation for both the individual and the collective, arguing that not only individuals have a moral worth and dignity but also the collective has a moral worth and dignity, and consequently they both entail human right(s). Additionally, the article analyses the principle of equality and non-discrimination as mechanisms for equal political and legal recognition of individuals, but also of groups and collectives, regardless of their identity. Collective rights have been constitutional rights within multinational states, whether in the form of federalism or other forms of territorial, fiscal autonomy, non-territorial cultural autonomy, affirmative actions, quotas, veto mechanism, etc. The contribution ends with what, in my view, better frames arguments in the debate of political and legal recognition between the collectives and the individuals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For more on the debate between the essentialist and constructivist concepts, see Mesić (2006), pp. 288ff.

  2. 2.

    Kalanj (2008), p. 40.

  3. 3.

    Golubović (2007), p. 505.

  4. 4.

    Kalanj (2008), pp. 41–42.

  5. 5.

    Kalanj (2008), p. 42.

  6. 6.

    Golubović (2007), pp. 505–506.

  7. 7.

    Kukathas (2002), p. 196.

  8. 8.

    Sakamoto (2002), p. 379.

  9. 9.

    Marko (2009), p. 29.

  10. 10.

    Sakamoto (2002), p. 45.

  11. 11.

    Fraser (2000), p. 109.

  12. 12.

    Ibidem.

  13. 13.

    Ibidem.

  14. 14.

    Ibidem.

  15. 15.

    Ibidem.

  16. 16.

    Ibidem.

  17. 17.

    Ibidem.

  18. 18.

    Fraser (2000), p. 110.

  19. 19.

    Ibidem.

  20. 20.

    Kymlicka (2009), p. 366.

  21. 21.

    Ibidem.

  22. 22.

    Kymlicka (2009), p. 367.

  23. 23.

    Ibidem.

  24. 24.

    Ibidem.

  25. 25.

    Ibidem.

  26. 26.

    Ibidem.

  27. 27.

    Ibidem.

  28. 28.

    Loretoni (2006), pp. 127–144.

  29. 29.

    Upbringing and education refer here to the development of individuals who are capable of understanding themselves in the context of his/her culture, but also taking a critical stance to their identity, changing it, treating others as equals, and choosing to confirm or partly/completely change their identity. However, we should keep in mind that such systems of upbringing and education do not exist in all cultures. Some cultures constitute and maintain identity through a negative relation to the other or, to borrow from Schmitt, through a friend-enemy relation. This mode of identity construction hinders the development of a rational individual capable of taking a critical stance. Instead, it creates individuals trapped in their own identity framework.

  30. 30.

    Taylor (1994), p. 25.

  31. 31.

    For example, the indigenous and colonized peoples being portrayed as uncivilised and inferior.

  32. 32.

    Taylor (1994), pp. 26–27.

  33. 33.

    Taylor (1994), p. 30.

  34. 34.

    Taylor (1994), p. 31.

  35. 35.

    Taylor (1994), p. 32.

  36. 36.

    Ibidem.

  37. 37.

    Taylor (1994), p. 36.

  38. 38.

    Walzer (1994), pp. 99–103.

  39. 39.

    Taylor (1994), p. 38.

  40. 40.

    Taylor (1994), p. 40.

  41. 41.

    Ibidem.

  42. 42.

    Taylor (1994), pp. 41–42.

  43. 43.

    Walzer (1994), pp. 99–103.

  44. 44.

    Walzer (1994), p. 99.

  45. 45.

    Raz (1988).

  46. 46.

    Raz (2005), p. 192.

  47. 47.

    Raz (2005), p. 196.

  48. 48.

    Kymlicka (2009), p. 371.

  49. 49.

    Ibidem.

  50. 50.

    Raz (2005), p. 208.

  51. 51.

    Ibidem.

  52. 52.

    Ibidem.

  53. 53.

    Faso (2007), p. 708.

  54. 54.

    Kymlicka (2009), p. 405.

  55. 55.

    Mezey (2015), p. 39.

  56. 56.

    Mezey (2015), p. 48.

  57. 57.

    I use the term collective in a broader sense to include groups with strong cohesive elements, such as ethnic or religious groups, but also groups bound together by less potent cohesive elements, such as women, persons with developmental disabilities, sexual and gender minorities etc.

  58. 58.

    Arneson (2013).

  59. 59.

    Ibidem.

  60. 60.

    Anderson (2012), Chapter 1, para. 2.

  61. 61.

    Ibidem.

  62. 62.

    Anderson (2012), Chapter 3, para. 4.

  63. 63.

    Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 18: Non-discrimination (1989), para 1. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/TBSearch.aspx?Lang=en&TreatyID=8&DocTypeID=11.

  64. 64.

    See also the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171, Arts 2.1, 14, 24 and 26; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Art. 2.2; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (signed 7 March 1966, entered into force 4 January 1969) 660 UNTS 195, Arts 1, 2, 4 and 5; the Convention on the Rights of the Child (signed 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990) 1577 UNTS 3. Art. 2; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, (signed 18 December 1979, entered into force 3 September 1981) 1249 UNTS 13, Arts 2, 3, 4 and 15; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (signed 13 December 2006, entered into force on 3 May 2008) 2515 UNTS 3. Arts 3, 4, 5 and 12.

  65. 65.

    International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Art. 26.

  66. 66.

    American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (signed April 1948, entered into force 2 May 1948) https://www.cidh.oas.org/Basicos/English/Basic2.american%20Declaration.htm.

  67. 67.

    African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (adopted 27 June 1981, entered into force 21 October 1986) 1520 UNTS 217 (Banjul Charter) https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36390-treaty-0011_-_african_charter_on_human_and_peoples_rights_e.pdf.

  68. 68.

    American Convention on Human Rights (signed 22 November 1969, entered into force 18 July 1978) 1144 UNTS 123 (Pact of San José) https://www.cidh.oas.org/basicos/english/basic3.american%20convention.htm.

  69. 69.

    The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (adopted 5 August 1990) https://www.cidh.oas.org/basicos/english/basic3.american%20convention.htm.

  70. 70.

    European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (adopted 4 November 1950, entered into force 4 September 1953).

  71. 71.

    Human Rights Committee (1989), para. 10.

  72. 72.

    See also: Human Rights Committee (1989), para. 10; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), Art. 4.

  73. 73.

    Constitution of India (1949, last rev. 2019), Art. 15.4. https://www.constituteproject.org/.

  74. 74.

    Constitution of Nepal (2015), Art. 18.3. https://www.constituteproject.org/.

  75. 75.

    Constitution of Nepal (2015), Art. 18.4.

  76. 76.

    Constitution of Barbados (1966, last rev. 2020), Art. 23.2. https://www.constituteproject.org/.

  77. 77.

    Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html.

  78. 78.

    Chartrand (2001), p. 7.

  79. 79.

    Ibidem.

  80. 80.

    Chartrand (2001), p. 8.

  81. 81.

    Ibidem.

  82. 82.

    Chartrand (2001), p. 13; Constitution Act (1982). Section 35 https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/constitution_act_1982_section_35/.

  83. 83.

    Levy (1997), p. 22.

  84. 84.

    Levy (1997), p. 24.

  85. 85.

    Merdzanovic (2015), p. 107.

  86. 86.

    Merdzanovic (2015), p. 108.

  87. 87.

    Merdzanovic (2015), pp. 114–116.

  88. 88.

    Merdzanovic (2015), p. 115.

  89. 89.

    Ibidem.

  90. 90.

    See Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995, amend. 2009), Art. IV.3.e. http://www.ohr.int/ohr-dept/legal/laws-of-bih/pdf/001%20-%20Constitutions/BH/BH%20CONSTITUTION%20.pdf.

  91. 91.

    Merdzanovic (2015), p. 115.

  92. 92.

    Ibidem.

  93. 93.

    Ibidem.

  94. 94.

    Ibidem.

  95. 95.

    United Nations Declaration on The Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wpcontent/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf.

  96. 96.

    Chartrand (2001), p. 6.

  97. 97.

    Ibidem.

  98. 98.

    Ibidem.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Public and International Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Damir Banović

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  1. Damir Banović
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  1. Legal Theory Department, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Mario Krešić

  2. Public and International Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Damir Banović

  3. Department of Law, Legal Philosophy Area, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain

    Alberto Carrio Sampedro

  4. Department of Legal Theory and History, University of Latvia, Rīga, Latvia

    Jānis Pleps

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Banović, D. (2022). Individual Identity, Collective Identity and Human Dignity. What Are the Best Models to Accommodate Different Identities?. In: Krešić, M., Banović, D., Sampedro, A.C., Pleps, J. (eds) Ethnic Diversity, Plural Democracy and Human Dignity. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 99. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97917-1_4

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