The Myth of Inclusion: Mestizo Nationalism, Identity Politics, and Citizenship in Nicaragua
- ISBN-10
- 0493318860
- ISBN-13
- 9780493318868
- Pages
- 720
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2001
- Publisher
- Cornell University
- Author
- Juliet Amalie Hooker
Description
This dissertation examines the implications for democratic theory of "the politics of identity." Contemporary democratic theorists approach identity politics as either a threat to democracy or as a celebration of difference. In contrast, I suggest that there is a transformative moment that can be recovered in demands for the recognition of cultural diversity. This is the moment when demands for inclusion are conceived as opportunities for acknowledging the open and revisable character of culture and identity and to conceive of citizenship in non-nationalist terms. Struggles for the recognition of cultural diversity can contribute to the deepening and extension of democracy, but only if they challenge homogeneous and exclusionary conceptions of citizenship. The argument in favor of such recognition therefore needs to be made on the grounds of equality of access to participation, not the intact preservation of minority cultures nor the recognition of difference for difference's sake. Identity politics claims pose a challenge to democratic legitimacy because democracy must ensure equal access to participation among citizens. But in the process of nation-building national narratives can emerge that are exclusionary and assert the privileged access of a dominant group to political power. In Nicaragua the discourse of mestizo nationalism, while seemingly inclusive, served to exclude indigenous and Afro-Caribbean populations from full access to citizenship. When demands for the recognition of cultural diversity that directly challenged this nationalist narrative emerged in the 1980s, they led to the outbreak of ethnic conflict between the Sandinista state and the ethnic groups of the country's Atlantic Coast. The conflict was partially resolved by means of territorial autonomy and other special rights for the ethnic groups of Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast. Perhaps surprisingly this process was accomplished, or at least instigated, during the decade of socialism. In Nicaragua collective rights have not led to spiraling fragmentation or threatened civic solidarity, contrary to the expectations of critics of identity politics from within democratic theory. Instead, they fostered debates about the ethical self-understanding of the Nicaraguan political community that suggest the possibility of someday developing a more inclusive and engaged conception of citizenship.
