Liberal justice vs. local norms: On the importance of heterogeneity within illiberal communities

The problem of illiberal communities3 within democratic states is a thorny one.4 Liberal political theorists have suggested a variety of positions when faced with such communities; from toleration5 to women’s rights, 6 to cultural relativism.7 This chapter aims to offer a philosophical, sociological framework as a partial solution to this problem. The basic idea of the framework is rather simple (although its implications admittedly involve several complicated issues). I shall argue that sufficient attention given to inner community heterogeneity is probably the key to some of the difficult problems regarding the liberal approach to illiberal communities, since some occurrences within these communities converge with liberal expectations and hopes. I shall illustrate this approach by examining some current occurrences within the Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, and some other examples.8.