Aspiring to Public Engagement

Abstract

Normative political theory and related disciplines are sometimes remote from the publics they theorise about. Rawls rarely if ever addressed the public and there are not many politicians who have read anything by him, despite his being a giant of the discipline. There are alternative approaches and what is interesting is that theorists of multiculturalism particularly stand out for public engagement, as for example in the cases of Charles Taylor, Bhikhu Parekh and Will Kymlicka. They deliberately cultivate public intellectual engagement and dedicate time to public service. What kinds of political theory and methodologies are employed by such public intellectuals and under what conditions and what kind of success is possible with such public theoretical engagement? Is it helpful to widen the lens and to also consider related or hybridic theoretical disciplines as exhibited in the work of Edward Said, Stuart Hall and Cornel West.