ABSTRACT
An important feature of recent discussions of citizenship is the more explicit discussion of cultural difference. The emergence of multicultural citizenship as a focus of inquiry is one highly significant manifestation of this. Such developments are in part the reflection of a wider unease with the foundational precepts of what might be called the classical liberal tradition in political philosophy. This unease is to be found among feminist and post-colonial as much as multicultural critics of liberalism. But debates over multicultural citizenship are also a reflection of rethinking and revision within liberal traditions in response to late twentieth century social change. Liberalism is not so unitary or static as many of its critics seem to believe.
