DILEMMAS OF PLURALIST DEMOCRACY

This study is a theoretical paper that may be classified as political philosophy. We consider its relevance manifests itself in two aspects: first, in that the world is heading towards multiculturalism, the first signs of which David Holinger believes to have detected in "post-ethnic pluralism" inside American society. Second, in that nationalism exists in different ways and with varying emphasis in all societies, which seriously endangers the stability of the world today. Our paradoxical world seeks answers to the question which road is more practicable: a nation-state position of power or being receptive towards the path of multicultural development. The question is a difficult one, its answer, political. We may only endeavor to contemplate it. This is possible and necessary, since the European Union, which our country also belongs to, is organized along the principle of the rule of law; national laws are formulated in the European spirit, and the rule of law binds us to their observance. Despite this, one cannot deny that there are certain infringements related to nationality and ethnicity that thwart multicultural cohabitation from time to time, both in places where the majority population forms the local minority and where ethnic groups are the minority. We address two dilemmas in this paper: one refers to the extent to which the qualifier "multicultural" may be associated with citizenship, and the other, to whether it is relevant to speak about the relativization of culture in European nation-states. Our goal is to direct attention towards the unique multiculturalism of Central and Eastern European democracies, with the conviction that the 21st century will be the age of "peaceful nationalism" among peoples.