Questions of Legitimacy: Accommodating Cultural Difference in Constitution Making

Abstract

This paper looks at the issue of accommodating and providing for cultural difference in constitution making. Its focus is to highlight the challenges of providing for cultural difference in constitution making and in doing so assess the strengths and weaknesses of a liberal democratic approach to addressing these challenges. It argues that many of the problems with the liberal democratic approach are caused by a failure to acknowledge the cultural aspects of constitutionalism. That it asserts certain assumptions as the necessary underpinnings of any constitutional framework without dialogue about their relevance and applicability to the various groups which that constitution represents. If a constitution is to genuinely provide for cultural difference there needs to be a deeper investigation into how issues of cultural difference may require changes to existing notions and approaches of constitutional frameworks.