Individual Rights versus Collective Rights: A Debate on the Liberal Paradox of Multiculturalism

The concept of multiculturalism basically refers to a set of political, legal, and daily life propositions that are deemed essential for the peaceful coexistence of societies and to ensure the preservation of minority cultures without subjecting their members to assimilation or oppression in divided societies by cultural, religious, and lifestyle diversity. Pluralist multiculturalism, on the other hand, forms its policy recommendations concerning these issues within the framework of liberal states and the fundamental principles of classical liberalism. Thus, it underscores the importance of acknowledging these diverse cultures through means such as tolerance, respect, and equal treatment to safeguard individual rights and freedoms and embraces methodological individualism as its guiding approach to emphasize the legitimacy of minorities' claims to rights. However, when minority cultures are shown tolerance or respect or are treated equally with majority cultures in liberal states, the question arises of how these minority cultures should be treated against their internal restrictions and practices that are incompatible with liberalism and can sometimes be seen as violations of human rights and freedoms. The pluralist multiculturalist stance suggests that direct intervention in minority groups whose cultural rights are recognized should be avoided while advocating instead for indirect reconciliation methods such as non -coercive negotiations, temporary agreements, and exceptions to help liberalize. However, at this point, the dilemma of this position emerges; the non-intervention principle of plural multiculturalism, when applied, becomes unable to serve the safeguarding of individual rights and freedoms, which is another liberal principle.