The expulsion of the Roma from France, the banning of minarets in Switzerland, or the conditions in which African immigrants live in Italy represent recent events, where democratic societies face contestation over the allocation of public space for the private use of minorities. These cases attest, on the one hand to the growing recognition of minority rights – who feel empowered to make claims – and, on the other hand, to worryingly limited toleration in democratic polities challenged with such claims. Given the centrality of space within a society’s self-understanding, conflicts over its distribution are invariably emotionally charged, lead to political mobilisation and intransigent claims. Using Alessandro Ferrara’s work on political judgement, we conceptualise such conflicts as exceptional moments in collective identity-formation, when society’s commitment to democracy and liberal toleration are tested. Such moments represent opportunities for political and historical reflective judgement regarding who falls within the demos, and who resides, despite rhetoric of constitutional recognition, on the fringes. By conceptualizing such conflicts as instances of collective self-(re)definition, we aim to disclose the dangers and the opportunities associated with such struggles. Thus, oriented by a commitment to equal respect – that goes beyond formal respect and takes into account the way people live – exemplary judgment can steer societies towards more substantive inclusiveness. But when oriented by an exclusionary ethos, judgment can deepen divisions, aggravate inequities and normalize intolerance. Either way, who “we” are as a political community gets reshaped and resized through the political struggle for control over territory and public spaces.
