ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I present some key issues of liberal-democratic legitimacy in multinational polities from a philosophical perspective. The first and second sections focus, respectively, on the two most important general approaches within the current discussion of democratic liberalism in multinational contexts (the so-called liberalism 1 and 2), and on a revision of universalism and particularism in these contexts. The third section analyses some shortcomings of Rawls’ and Habermas’s theories when applied to multinational democracies. Finally, the fourth section offers a review of some elements of Kantian philosophy as a way to establish an updated liberal approach to political legitimacy in multinational democracies. This approach fits again with the value pluralism perspective.
