Romantic Liberalism: An Alternative Perspective on Liberal Disrespect in the Muhammad Cartoons Controversy

Gustavsson, Gina,1984-Uppsala universitet,Statsvetenskapliga institutionen (författare)

There is increasing scholarly concern that liberalism comes into conflict with religious diversity. William Galston blames this tendency on ‘enlightenment liberalism’, which places autonomous self-reflection at the heart of the liberal project. This paper, however, proposes a culprit that is more prone to both disrespect and fundamentalism: romantic liberalism, which idealises authentic self-expression. I develop this concept by re-visiting the Danish cartoon controversy, allegedly a case of enlightenment liberalism. This reveals that Flemming Rose, the editor who commissioned the cartoons, invokes romantic rather than enlightened values in defense of the publication. In contrast to previous research, I show that Rose does not portray the disrespectfulness of the cartoons as a side effect of trying to promote autonomy among Muslims. Rather, he argues in favor of artistic provocation as such, and invokes a distinctly romantic understanding of freedom of speech, which in many ways runs counter to the ideal of autonomy.

Ingår i:Political StudiesChichester, West Sussex : Wiley-Blackwell62:1, s. 53-690032-32171467-9248

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