Description: The distinguished political philosopher James Tully addresses the demands for cultural recognition that constitute the major conflicts of today, such as nationalism and federalism, the claims of Aboriginal peoples, feminism, linguistic and ethnic minorities. Tully's survey of four hundred years of constitutional practice shows that neither modern nor postmodern constitutionalism can adjudicate such claims justly, and in Strange Multiplicity he instead develops a post-imperial philosophy of constitutionalism capable of bringing peace to the twenty-first century.
Review Quotes: "James Tully's questioning of 'our' received view of constitutionalism is long overdue, and the alternatives and corrections he suggests to simple, unified sovereignty notions are worth very serious consideration indeed, both by scholars and by politicians. Now that the fact of constitutional diversity within established states is no longer occluded, no longer can be, and the whole idea of the unitary 'nation-state' is coming under some question, such reconsiderations of the constitutional tradition we have inherited are most necessary. This is an important book, both in what it criticises and in what it proposes. It will stimulate, I am sure, a very useful discussion about a very pressing issue." Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton