ABSTRACT
Cultural and religious diversity has been high on the agenda of political theory and politics in practice for the last two decades. Some have seen a politics of compromise as especially suited to the inclusion of citizens with diverse identities and commitments. In this chapter, Tore Vincents Olsen asks whether compromise processes actually are, as the proponents claim, more inclusive of non-liberal citizens than consensus-oriented political processes. In particular, Olsen investigates whether compromise processes are less demanding of citizens and thereby more inclusive of diverse groups of citizens. On the basis of a careful contrast between consensus-oriented and compromise-oriented political processes, his conclusion is that the latter is not necessarily less demanding or more inclusive of non-liberals than the former. Thus, compromise cannot be defended with reference to its greater ability to include non-liberal citizens in the democratic process.
