ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the link or tension between cultural diversity and politics as based in culture, as originating in the conceptions of how to define politics, and particularly the political community. Cultural autonomy may be viewed as the right of societal groups to maintain and develop their own culture, and the only or the best way to secure the autonomy of the cultural group is to give it political autonomy-political independence. But the argument for cultural homogeneity may also focus on the need for governmental efficiency in democratic political systems. The delimitation of the political community draws the boundaries around those who are citizens as well as subjects, and those who are not. The strong identification with the political community is not dependent on cultural homogeneity. Different policies can be implemented to reduce the costs of multicultural political systems, both in the form of constitutional guarantees and the granting of cultural autonomy to the cultural groups.
