The central focus of the Diversity and Democracy Cluster is the question of how liberal democratic principles and practices adapt to an increasingly diverse population. The questions of citizenship and membership that flow from this agenda are both descriptive and normative and touch on the formation and fragmentation of personal and communal identities by which “we” and “they” are created, the disputes about the categorization of groups and the allocation of rights and benefits to such groups (based on race, ethnicity, religion, national origin or legal status) and the participation of all individuals and groups in civic and political life. These questions demand the interdisciplinary efforts of philosophers, social scientists and legal scholars.
"Racial, ethnic and other forms of diversity is a central and increasingly important feature of societies and political systems, and that is certainly the case regarding the U.S. With the transformation of American society, old questions in new forms as well as new questions arise about the capacity of this democratic system—its philosophical underpinnings, social relations, politics, institutions and public policies—to grapple with these developments. The members of the D&D Cluster systematically engage in such questions as well as identify paths toward progress in addressing these pressing issues." - Rodney Hero (former cluster member)
