Can Reflective Inclusiveness Mitigate the Cultural Confrontation Caused by International Migration?
Abstract
This article examines the inevitable contradiction between human rights and national sovereignty, or between the universal and the particular in contemporary liberal democracies, and proposes a possible way out of this serious dilemma. In addressing this challenge, I focus on two specific scenes: how the post-war Japanese government and its people have dealt with the basic rights of foreign nationals living in Japan and how European societies have faced a massive influx of migrants with different cultural backgrounds over the past few decades. I would argue that it is critically important for immigrants and host societies to share the ideals of reflective inclusiveness as an ethical principle to reconcile the conflicting values of nationalistic attachment and human rights. Reflective inclusiveness here refers to the attitude to respect other people’s rights to liberty and equality, however different their cultural backgrounds may be, if your own legal, political, and economic statuses are backed and protected by the idea of human rights. This requires you to reflect that your own advantageous status and positions are underpinned by basic human rights.
Keywords
reflective inclusiveness | populism | human rights | national sovereignty | Japanese Constitution | former colon | family registration | Christianity | identity marker | social equality | reflektierte Inklusion | Populismus | Menschenrechte | nationale Souveränität | japanische Verfassung | ehemalige Kolonie | Anmeldung der Familie | Christenheit | Identitätskennzeichnung | soziale Gleichheit